Questions about surgery my dad had

[memphispanda, RN]

My dad went in this morning for gall bladder and exploratory abdominal surgery. He has Hx of prostate and colon cancer and has had sx for both. Anyway, the doc attempted to do the surgery laproscopically and ended up having to do an open incision because the adhesions were so bad in the abdomen, and he also had to do a small bowel resection r/t intussuception. Anyway, my mom said they put something around the areas where they had removed the adhesions and it would prevent regrowth of the adhesions, then be absorbed by his body. Any idea what that would be?

Sorry for the lengthy background for such a short question! Thanks for any info you have!

[sunnygirl272]

this was from an artilcle about gyne adhesions...from Cochrane Review Abstracts:

Prevention of postoperative adhesions (either new or reoccurance) has been postulated by using barriers to prevent two surfaces being in contact. When pelvic surgery is being undertaken strategies to reduce pelvic adhesions occurring may be undertaken and these include barrier agents which are placed between the pelvic structures. Two synthetic barriers with differential characteristics are commercially available: oxidised regenerated cellulose (Interceed) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFC) (GoreTex).

i know there is a gel on the market..can't find it though...

[sunnygirl272]

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/mda/docs/P990015.html

[memphispanda, RN]

Thanks so much! The gel was the thing! My mom mentioned something that would turn into a gel, but she was stressed and probably a bit confused, I am sure that's what was used. Thank you!!!

[OBNURSEHEATHER]

....takes "learn something new today" off of her list.

Heather