Prevention of intra-abdominal adhesions by a hyaluronic acid gel; an experimental study in rats.

Background: In 80% to 90% of the patients intra-abdominal adhesions occur after abdominal surgery, which can cause small-bowel obstruction, chronic abdominal pain, female infertility and difficulty during reoperation. A novel crosslinked hyaluronic acid gel is evaluated regarding its anti-adhesive capacities in an ischemic button model in rats.

Method: 51 adult, male Wistar rats from a registered breeder, received eight ischemic buttons each and were treated with hyaluronic acid gel (HA, HyaRegen), hyaluronic acid carboxymethylcellulose (HA-CMC, Seprafilm) or no anti-adhesive barrier.