Preventing postoperative pelvic adhesions with intraperitoneal treatment.

Postoperative pelvic adhesions represent a major challenge to the surgeon operating to correct or prevent infertility. Many approaches have been tried, but intraperitoneal treatment seems to be the most efficacious. Some major landmarks led to the development of the intraperitoneal substances currently used to prevent postoperative pelvic adhesions. On comparing the data on both animals and humans we see that high-molecular-weight dextran seems to be superior to other substances. Much work needs to be done to enhance this adjunctive therapy since excellent surgical technique alone seems insufficient. The future emphasis will probably be on these medications in conjunction with precise surgical techniques and adjunctive intraperitoneal therapy.