Use of heparin in the prevention of peritoneal adhesions.

Abstract

A NUMBER of attempts have been made to prevent the formation of intraperitoneal adhesions on the assumption that the blood coagulation mechanism was a necessary or at least an important factor in adhesion formation. Thus, Pope 1 reported a series of experiments on rabbits in which sodium citrate was employed to lower the concentration of calcium ions with the hope of preventing adhesion formation by interfering with the coagulation mechanism. Although he reported favorable results by this method, Sweet, Chaney and Willson 2 and Kubota 3 were unable to confirm them. Lehman and Boys 4 suggested the use of heparin intraperitoneally in the prevention of the formation and reformation of adhesions. In most of their experiments, adhesions were produced in dogs at a preliminary operation and then divided at a second operation. Heparin was then injected intraperitoneally at intervals, and the number of adhesions found after suitable intervals of time