CWCRS Launches Trial on Adhesions Barrier

Dr. Tom Lyons Tries New Approach to $20 Billion Internal Scarring &Pain Problem

Adhesions, or scars that sometimes form internally in reaction to surgery, are a $20 billion per year problem in the U.S., involving pain for patients and expensive corrective techniques.   Dr. Tom Lyons’ Center for Women’s Care & Reproductive Surgery is now conducting a study on prevention of adhesions.

“Even though our patients experience adhesive disease very infrequently because we perform only laparoscopic surgery and the incisions are so small, we intend to use this technique on every patient,” said Dr. Lyons, a gynecologic surgery pioneer who developed the Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy in 1989.

“This study on adhesions barriers, along with the study we’re conducting with Olympus to visualize endometriosis more easily are both extremely important,” he said. 

Adhesions often form after Uterine Fibroid Embolization (UFE) and Uterine Artery Embolization (UAE) as painful and intractable side effects. Prevention is key.

“We’ve participated in studies on adhesion prevention numerous times over the years, and nothing has demonstrated success except Adept™ so far,” said Lyons. Adept is a liquid, which can’t be used on ovaries, so the new barrier and Adept will be used together when necessary.

Patients will have a pre-op and post-op pain inventory taken to determine the likelihood of whether painful adhesions have actually formed post-surgery. The adhesions barrier being studied will be used on ovaries, pelvic sidewalls, the anterior abdominal wall, which is where most adhesions form (over larger scars), and the uterus after myomectomy (fibroid removal).                                            

Patients seek Dr. Lyons from around the world for his advanced laparoscopic techniques, including surgical excision of endometriosis (removing it beneath the root so it does not grow back), pelvic floor reconstruction, reproductive and urinary leakage disorders.

The Center for Women’s Care & Reproductive Surgery has offices in Atlanta (Dunwoody), Blue Ridge (N. Georgia mountains) and Lake Oconee, Georgia, at the Cowles Clinic. 

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This page last updated 09/30/2011