Adhesions after bowel surgery

[nellieellie]

Quick summary. Suspected ovarian cancer turned out to be neuroendocrinal cancer on small intestine discovered during surgery and removed in January. Colonoscopy clear. Laparoscopy booked last week to check on small intestine. All clear re cancer but turned into laparotomy as adhesions present in small intestine, bits twisted and stuck to abdominal wall. So, does anyone have experience of adhesions and this type of surgery? I understand it’s highly likely that the surgery Ive just had will cause more adhesions. Will it ever stop? Also I am anaemia. Can the adhesions have caused this?

Anaemic ...that is....

Hi there - sorry to hear this. I am a fellow patient rather than a HCP.

Not quite an answer to your question, but I have had lots of trouble with adhesions from previous abdominal surgery (hysterectomy) and from inflammation (diverticulitis). All of this made my recent bowel surgery (left hemicolectomy) very difficult and required conversion from laparoscopy to full-length midline laparotomy.

Like you, I fully expect that the surgery itself will give rise to further adhesions, and I don't think there's anything one can do about that.

I am not sure why adhesions would cause anaemia though? Have you had internal bleeding? Have you had your vitamin B12 status checked, in case your previous surgery left you unable to absorb enough of it?

I think that because the small intestine was twisted and stuck to stomach wall, it impeded absorption of iron and other nutrients. This is what Ive read anyway. B12 I think is fine (take B supplements and nothing showed in blood tests). When I was looking into treatment for adhesions, came across a clinic that supposedly treats adhesions without surgery, so I just wondered if there were other options out there. I was neve4 told about the risk of adhesions so am a bit fed up with my consultant.

Is it a massage-based therapy the clinic is offering? I have seen references to this but don't know how strong the evidence base is for its effectiveness.

Any abdo surgery carries a risk of causing adhesions - you should have been told, and it should have been written on the yellow sheet when you consented to the surgery....most people will still consent to the surgery of course as the benefit outweigh the risks.

there is nothing you can do - sometimes if you have more surgery you can have a clear film put inside your abdomen to try and keep everything from sticking again and more adhesions forming - I have had this, but even then adhesions formed after some time....it depends on your body...

I'm unaware of any correlation between anaemia and adhesions - anaemia is more to do with your blood - did you loose a lot during the surgery? it can take 12 weeks to get back to normal.

once you have adhesions, most surgeons will refuse to do any keyhole surgery, due to the risk of puncturing the bowel - so you may always need to be 'opened up' if you need future surgery - if the adhesions are major.

hope that helps....it is always a risk, and nothing your surgeon did wrong - but nice to be warned yes.

get well soon