Effects of five different barrier materials on postsurgical adhesion formation in the rat

Postsurgical adhesion formation is a significant clinical problem within ev ery surgical specialism. Due to the problems that adhesions cause, a wide v ariety of adjunctive treatments to prevent the formation and reformation of adhesions have been proposed. One of the modalities that has been studied extensively and that has been showing the most promising results is the so- called barrier method. The purpose of the present study was to compare the efficacy of five of these barrier materials in the prevention of postsurgic al adhesion formation in a standardized rat adhesion model. It was conclude d that no beneficial effect of Ringer's lactate on adhesion formation was s een. Significant reductions (P < 0.0001) in adhesion percentages compared t o control animals were seen with Polyactive(TM), PRECLUDE Peritoneal Membra ne(TM), Seprafilm(TM) and Tissucol(TM), but only PRECLUDE Peritoneal Membra ne and Seprafilm significantly reduced adhesions (P < 0.01) when the barrie r-treated peritoneal defects were compared with contralateral control-side peritoneal defects. The results of our study suggest that Seprafilm and PRE CLUDE Peritoneal Membrane are superior to Tissucol and Polyactive in preven ting adhesion formation. When Polyactive was still attached to the site of application during the second laparotomy similar results to Seprafilm and P RECLUDE Peritoneal Membrane were seen. Future studies on the efficacy of a material to decrease adhesion formation should always include a comparison of several control materials in the same model. Our study indicates that Se prafilm or PRECLUDE Peritoneal Membrane might be used as standards of contr ol.