Effect of Melatonin in the Prevention of Post-operative Adhesion Formation in an Experimental Study

Post operative adhesion formation is a very important clinical problem because of its complications such as pain, bowel obstruction, infertility and subsequent intra-operative complications. We aimed to investigate the effects of melatonin (ME), as an agent acting against free radicals, on the prevention of adhesion formation. A number of 39 rats were randomly assigned into three groups of equal number. Serosal injury was created using a standard technique, one group received a single dose of intraperitoneal (IP) ME immediately after injury; a single dose of subcutaneous (SC) ME was given to the second group 30 minutes prior to surgery; but the control group did not received ME. All animals were re-operated 2 weeks after the surgery and the adhesion scores were determined by an examiner blinded to the under experiment groups.