Oxyphenbutazone--anti-inflammatory agent--in prevention of peritoneal adhesions

Postoperative peritoneal adhesions are one of the important causes of intestinal obstruction. Coletti and Bossart 1 reported that in their series, intestinal adhesions were responsible for 90% of small bowel obstructions in the early postoperative period. Numerous agents have been studied experimentally and clinically with regard to their usefulness in preventing the formation of intraperitoneal adhesions, but none, as yet, has proved consistently useful. Considering formation of peritoneal adhesions as an inflammatory process, 2 an anti-inflammatory agent, oxyphenbutazone, has been used in this study to prevent it. Materials and Methods Forty rabbits were anesthetized with intravenously administered pentobarbital sodium. A laparotomy was carried out by a midline incision. The cecum and corresponding parietal peritoneum were scraped until the normal gloss was lost. The abdomen was closed in layers. The animals were studied in the following groups: Group A. —This group was subdivided into two. Group Al, the control group, consisted