In addition, for more than a century, adjuvants including drugs and materials such as animal membranes, gold foil, mineral oil, sheets made of rubber and Teflon, have been used to reduce the risk of adhesion formation.
[2] Adhesion barriers are physical films, fabrics, gels or other materials that are applied between layers of tissues at the end of a surgery before the incision site is closed.
In the United States, Interceed,[4] Seprafilm[5] and Adept[6] are the three products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as an adhesion barrier after abdominal or pelvic surgery.
Seprafilm (made by Genzyme) is a clear, sticky film composed of chemically modified sugars, some of which occur naturally in the human body.
A number of adhesion barriers are available outside of the United States including Hyalobarrier,[7] SprayShield,[8] PrevAdh[9] and INTERCOAT.
[14] The company settled a federal Department of Justice lawsuit over claims its sales representatives illegally showed hospital staff how to dissolve Seprafilm with saline into "slurry" and use it in laproscopic surgeries, for which it was not FDA-approved.