Adhesions: Should you have surgery for adhesions?

From: Helen Dynda (olddad66@runestone.net)
Thu Mar 8 21:20:47 2001


Should you have surgery for adhesions? This is a question that you, as an adhesion-sufferer, will be contemplating when your chronic pain becomes so unbearable that you know that you need help of some kind. The following items will give you information about some of the things to think about before ever considering or agreeing to surgery.

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Most surgeons will not agree to perform surgery on patients, who are known to have adhesions, because:

1.) Surgery for adhesions is too risky for the patient! Too many things can go wrong ( like the possibility of nicking the bowels, etc.).

2.) An adhesiolysis procedure is a very time-consuming task for the surgeon. I know of one patient who was in surgery for 10 hours!

3.) Surgery for adhesions is a very difficult task for the surgeon, which requires many hours of advanced training before a surgeon has developed the meticulous skills necessary in order to perform an adhesiolysis procedure.

4.) There are no adhesion barriers that are currently 100% effective. For that reason many of the best surgeons have elected not to use the adhesion barriers currently available.

5.) Adhesions are the way the body heals itself. With repeated surgeries it is very possible previous adhesions could reform; and also new adhesions de nova ) could develop away from the surgical site -- which will only increase the chronic pain a person already experiences.

6.) When a person has had previous surgeries, it can be difficult -- if not impossible -- for the surgeon to perform surgery laparoscopically.

7.) Only a surgeon, who does adhesiolysis procedures on a regular basis, is able to develop the skills necessary to help the patient become as adhesion-free as possible. Even theses adhesion specialists cannot guarantee that their patient will be adhesion-free following surgery.

8.) Too often patients compare their surgeon's ability to that of a mechanic. Their reasoning is: if a mechanic can fix a car, a surgeon should be able to do the same for his patient. It is not that easy; because the body is in charge of the healing -- not the surgeon!!!


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