Stomach pain after surgery? It could be due to adhesions.

Have you recently had surgery, especially abdominal surgery? Or do you often have unexplained abdominal pain or a pulling sensation? Sometimes the cause may be something you don't even think about. It's the adhesion of organs inside the body. In medicine, we call this condition 'adhesions'. The name may be new to you, but this is a more common condition than you think. So let's talk about it all in simple terms today.

What exactly are adhesions?

Simply put, adhesions are scar tissue that forms inside our bodies . Imagine when your skin is cut somewhere, and after the wound heals, a scar remains there, right? Similarly, adhesions are scar tissue that forms between two organs inside the body, between two places that are not normally connected. These can sometimes be as thin as a sheet of cellophane, or they can also be as thick as a string. The main reason for the formation of these adhesions is the body's natural healing process. When the tissues of the body are damaged due to something like surgery, infection, trauma , or radiation , our body begins to heal it. During this healing process, if a damaged organ comes into close contact with another organ, the healing cells in our body cannot distinguish the two organs as separate. As a result, the two organs are connected together and a scar tissue, or adhesion, is created.

Where do adhesions most commonly form?

Although adhesions can form anywhere on the body, there are a few places where they are most common. Let's take a look at them.

What are the symptoms of adhesions?

The important thing here is that most adhesions do not cause any symptoms . They can be present in the body without you even knowing it. Symptoms only appear if these adhesions interfere with the function of an organ. Typical symptoms may include:

• If you have adhesions in your intestines , you may experience a pulling pain in your abdomen when exercising or straining.
• If women have adhesions in their vagina or uterus , they may experience pain during sex.
• Lung adhesions can cause pain or difficulty breathing when taking a deep breath.
• Chest pain can occur due to heart- related adhesions.

Bowel Obstruction - This is an emergency!

The most serious complication of adhesions is intestinal obstruction. This is considered a medical emergency. This occurs when adhesions block the intestine, preventing food from moving through it. It is important to recognize the symptoms of this condition.

• A sharp, stabbing pain in the stomach that comes on suddenly and lasts for a few minutes. This pain may worsen after eating.
• Vomiting along with the pain. After vomiting, the pain may seem to subside for a while.
• Bloating and swelling.
• Hearing a loud "chiri chiri" sound from inside the stomach.
• Over time, this condition can become more severe. The pain becomes constant, the sounds of the stomach stop, and the passage of air and stool stops completely. A fever may develop.

How do you find out if there are adhesions?

Adhesions are not something that can be easily detected with tests like X-rays and CT scans. Even if those scans show something like a blockage in the intestines, it is not possible to say for sure whether the cause is adhesions. The only way to determine 100% whether adhesions are actually present is during surgery. Usually, a method called laparoscopy is used for this. In this, a small hole is made in the abdomen, a camera is inserted through it and the inside of the abdominal cavity is examined. If adhesions are found during such an examination, they can often be removed during the same surgery.

What are the treatments for this?

If there are no symptoms, adhesions do not need to be treated. However, if symptoms do occur, there are treatments. The main treatment is to cut and separate these adhesions through surgery. We call this adhesiolysis . There are two main surgical techniques used for this. But the problem here is that the surgery to remove adhesions can cause new adhesions to form. Because surgery also causes tissue damage, the body's healing process starts again.

Can't you prevent adhesions from forming?

Although it is not possible to completely prevent it, surgeons take various steps to reduce the risk of developing adhesions during surgery.

• Reducing the time taken for surgery.
• Handle the tissue very gently and carefully.
• Keeping the tissue moist during surgery.
• Use of special gloves (starch-free, latex-free).
• In some cases, special film-like sheets are placed to prevent adhesions between organs.

If you are preparing for any surgery, you can also talk to your doctor about this.