Why the profession must cut the risk of ; surgical adhesions.

The medical profession must act to reduce the risk of surgical adhesions, especially if surgeons want to avoid litigation cases in the future, reports Susan Mayor

Adhesions are increasingly being recognised as a common and costly complication, affecting more than nine in every ten patients undergoing any type of abdominal or pelvic surgery, according to the latest figures. Mr Adrian Lower, consultant gynaecological surgeon at the London Clinic, says: 'Adhesions are an almost inevitable risk of surgery - a perennial problem. They represent a significant clinical complication.' Adhesions cause loops of intestine and other abdominal viscera to stick to each other and can form within five days of surgery. Pelvic adhesions are associated with three main problems: m Chronic pelvic pain; m Infertility; m Intestinal obstruction. These complications are costly to the NHS. The first large epidemiological study to investigate adhesions, the Surgical and Clinical Adhe- sions Research (SCAR) study, warned that more than one-third of patients undergoing abdominal surgery had one or more hospital readmissions related to adhesions during a ten-year follow-up period. The study…