Prevention of Intra-abdominal Adhesions by Electrical Stimulation

World J Surg. 2020 Oct;44(10):3351-3361. doi: 10.1007/s00268-020-05508-z.

Abstract

The study investigated the ability of transdermal electric stimulation to prevent the formation of intra-abdominal adhesions in the combination with Seprafilm® (anti-adhesive agent). One hundred and twenty-eight (128) rabbits were subjected to a surgical procedure to simulate the adhesion processes. After the simulation, the animals were divided into 4 groups (32 animals each), depending on the application of the methods of prevention: (1) control group (no anti-adhesives or electro-stimulation) (CG); (2) comparison group (applications of Seprafilm®) (SF); (3) comparison group 2 (transdermal electric stimulation of the abdominal muscles) TES; (4) group (transdermal electric stimulation + Seprafilm®) (TES + SF). We observed that the application of the Seprafilm® alone led to a significant decrease in the adhesive process compared to the control group (CG) (p < 0.01). The adhesion process in the group underwent transdermal electrical stimulation (TES) was significantly lower compared to the Seprafilm® group (SF) (p ≤ 0.05). The results demonstrated a significant decrease in the adhesion processes in the SF + TES group on days 1, 3, 7 and 14 in comparison with the CG group (p = 0.001), SF group (p = 0.001) and TES group (p = 0.01) group of animals. This study showed the efficacy of transdermal electrical muscle stimulation for the prevention of intra-abdominal adhesions. Moreover, the combination of Seprafilm® anti-adhesion agent and electrical muscle stimulation resulted in the complete absence of adhesions. Our findings indicate the potential of such strategy for further clinical application.

MeSH terms

  • Abdominal Muscles*
  • Animals
  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Combined Modality Therapy
  • Electric Stimulation*
  • Hyaluronic Acid*
  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Models, Animal
  • Muscular Diseases / prevention & control*
  • Postoperative Complications / prevention & control
  • Rabbits
  • Tissue Adhesions / prevention & control*

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Seprafilm
  • Hyaluronic Acid