Bowel Adhesions

Excerpt

Bowel adhesions are irregular bands of scar tissue that form between 2 structures that are normally not bound together. The bands of tissue can develop when the body is healing from any disturbance of the tissue that occurs secondary to surgery, infection, trauma, or radiation. While the abdominal adhesions that form can be a normal response to the injury of the peritoneal surface, they can be the cause of significant morbidity, including adhesive small bowel obstruction, infertility in females, and chronic abdominal pain, and they can create a difficult environment for future surgeries . See Image. Adhesions to the Abdominal Wall. Complications of subsequent surgery when adhesions are present may include difficult abdominal access and distorted anatomy, inability to perform laparoscopic surgery safely, inadvertent injury to other organs, increased duration of surgery, and increased blood loss.