The effect of cauterization of the rabbit ovary on adhesion formation.

A new treatment modality that involves laparoscopic electrocautery of the ovary has been described as an alternative to ovarian wedge resection. The authors investigated the effect of multiple cautery of the rabbit ovary on adhesion formation. Twenty animals were studied after being divided into four groups of five animals each. Group 1 animals underwent a control operation that involved opening and closing of the peritoneum only. All other animals underwent cautery of the right ovary, with the left ovary used as a control. Group 2 animals had no intraperitoneal substance instilled. Group 3 animals had 2.5 ml/kg of sterile normal saline instilled intraperitoneally. Group 4 animals had 2.5 ml/kg of 32% dextran 70 instilled intraperitoneally. Two weeks later, adhesions were evaluated with a macroscopic and a microscopic scoring system. Cautery of the ovaries was associated with the formation of a significant amount of adhesions. The mean macroscopic adhesion score for a cauterized ovary was 2.73 +/- 0.38 and for the control ovary was 0.00 +/- 0.00 (P less than 0.01). According to the microscopic scoring system, the adhesion scores were 1.86 +/- 0.16 and 1.20 +/- 0.28, respectively (P less than 0.05). The 32% dextran 70 group had the lowest mean macroscopic adhesion score, but this was not statistically significant.