ABSTRACT
Adhesions are an inevitable consequence of surgery and their optimal management and prevention remain unanswered. The magnitude of this problem has been overlooked due to a lack of awareness of their clinical significance. Adhesions cause serious short-term and long-term complications related to bowel obstruction, infertility, and pelvic pain, worsening the quality of life of the patients. This further increases the burden on patients and doctors, and drains the economic resources of the healthcare system. Despite advances in the surgical technique (laparoscopy) and instrumentation (microsurgical instruments), the frequency of adhesion-related complications or disorders (ARD) still remains relatively unchanged. Clinical studies and research clearly reveal that the burden of adhesion-related problems (i.e. de-novo adhesion formation, recurrence, complications, and readmission and re-surgery rates) following laparoscopic gynecologic surgery is unfortunately similar to that found after open surgery.
