Perspectives in adhesion prevention in gynaecological surgery

Adhesions are a frequent, clinically relevant, and often costly complication of surgery that can develop in any body location regardless of the type of surgical procedure. Adhesions result from surgical trauma inducing inflammatory and coagulation processes and to date cannot be entirely prevented. However, the extent of adhesion formation can be reduced by using good surgical technique and the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, haemostats, and barrier agents. Strategies are needed in the short-, medium- and longer-term to improve the prevention of adhesions. In the short-term, efforts are needed to increase the awareness amongst surgeons and patients about the potential risks and burden of surgically induced adhesions. To aid this in the medium- term, a risk score to identify patients at high risk of adhesion formation is being developed and validated. Furthermore, available potentially preventive measures need to be highlighted. Both clinical and health economic evaluations need to be undertaken to support the broad adoption of such measures. In the longer- term, a greater understanding of the pathogenic processes leading to the formation of adhesions is needed to help identify effective, future treatments to reliably prevent adhesions from forming and lyse existing ones.

Postoperative Peritoneal Granulomatous Inflammation After the Application of Potato Starch-Based Anti-Adhesive Agent in Laparoscopic Endometriosis Surgery

Background

Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory oestrogen-dependent disease. It is characterised by elevated inflammatory markers in the peritoneal milieu with subsequent adhesiogenesis. Nowadays, excisional, and ablative surgeries are considered the main treatment of endometriosis, and adhesiolysis is being performed almost routinely during these procedures. Postoperative adhesion formation is a significant concern for many surgeons, especially as endometriosis patients are assumed to be predisposed to adhesiogenesis. In order to minimise adhesiogenesis after endometriosis surgery, the usage of different barrier methods have been discussed in the literature. Recent studies aim to investigate the effect of potato starch preparations on adhesion formation in endometriosis patients.

Objectives

We aim to describe the findings of a second-look laparoscopy on patients who received a starch-based anti-adhesive agent.

Materials and Methods

We present a retrospective case series that included the medical, surgical, and histopathologic data of three patients.

Main outcome measures

Intraperitoneal adhesion formation and peritoneal inflammation.

Results

All three patients had de-novo adhesions during the second-look laparoscopy. Pathological examination revealed noncaseating granulomatosis of the peritoneum in all patients.

Conclusion

The use of potato starch-based agents as a peritoneal adhesion prophylaxis in laparoscopic endometriosis surgery could lead to granulomatous peritoneal inflammation. Correct application by avoiding powder remnants through complete rinsing and transformation to gel seems to be an important factor to avoid this adverse effect.

What is new?

We aim to highlight that potato starch-based anti-adhesive agents similar to the one used in this study could be a cause of adhesiogenesis and peritoneal inflammation.

Practice of laparoscopic prolapse surgery in Europe - ESGE Survey

Sacrocolpopexy is considered as the "gold standard" for management of women with apical prolapse. Numerous technical variants are being practiced. The first aim of this survey was to determine the habits of practice of laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy (LSCP) in Europe. The second aim was to determine whether surgeons who perform laparoscopic pelvic organ prolapse (POP) repair are familiar with the practice of alternative techniques and with mesh-less laparoscopic treatment of prolapse. The questionnaire was designed by the Urogynaecology Special Interest Group of the European Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy (ESGE). All ESGE-members were invited by email to respond to this survey consisting of 54 questions divided in different categories. Following review of ESGE member's responses, we have highlighted the great heterogeneity concerning the practice of LSCP and important variability in performance of concomitant surgeries. Alternative techniques are rarely used in practice. Furthermore, the lack of standardisation of the many surgical steps of a laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy is mainly due to the lack of evidence. There is a need for training and teaching in both standard and newer innovative techniques as well as the reporting of medium and long-term outcomes of both standard laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy and any of its alternatives.

Adhesions and Anti-Adhesion Systems Highlights

The peritoneal and intrauterine cavities are lined by fragile membranes with a high-wound healing capacity, e.g. repairing the endometrium in its cyclical "injury and scar-free repair process" during menstruation. However, peritoneal and intrauterine fibrosis and adhesions can develop after surgical trauma through activation of molecular, immune and genetic mechanisms. During procedures with a high-risk of adhesions, the use of new peritoneal and intrauterine conditions in combination with anti-adhesion substances are promising measures to preserve peritoneal and endometrial function and avoid the most common complication of gynecological surgery. Highlights of adhesions and anti-adhesion prevention techniques in laparoscopic, laparotomic and hysteroscopic surgeries are discussed in this paper. Unfortunately, evidence is lacking to prove the superiority of one technique over its counterparts in terms of postoperative adhesions, such as instrumentation, type of energy, distending media, and intracavitary pressure. Additionally, there is limited evidence about the efficacy and outcomes of techniques and adjuvant measures used during adhesiolysis. The definition of a universal intrauterine adhesions classification scheme as well as a prognostic scoring system to identify women at high risk of postoperative adhesions are necessary for advising those who could benefit the most of the use of antiadhesion barriers.