The Effect of Piroxicam on the Formation of Postoperative, Intraabdominal Adhesion in Rats

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Peritoneal adhesions are fibrous bands of tissues formed between organs that are normally separated and/or between organs and the internal body wall after peritoneal injury. Antiinflammatory agents were used to reduce the initial inflammatory response to tissue injury and, hence, the subsequent formation of adhesion. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of intraperitoneal instillation of piroxicam on intraperitoneal adhesions. METHODS: Eighty Wistar rats were subjected to standardized lesion by using the scraping model and were randomly divided into four groups. Group I (control) received no treatment; groups II, III, and IV received 10-12.5 mL of 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2 mg/mL piroxicam solution, respectively, after surgery. On the 14th postoperative day, the adhesion intensity score, inflammatory cell reaction, and the number of adhesion bands were determined. RESULTS: There were no rats with grade 0 adhesions in the control group. There were 10 rats (50%) with grade 2 and eight rats (40%) with grade 3 adhesions. The adhesion intensity (P < 0.0001) and the number of adhesion bands (P < 0.001) were significantly lower in groups III and IV. No significant difference was observed in the adhesion intensity or the number of adhesion bands between groups I and II. CONCLUSIONS: Intraperitoneal instillation of piroxicam solution might be useful for preventing peritoneal adhesions.