HOME CARE Section 5 of 13 Adhesions must be diagnosed and treated by a physician. If you have undergone surgery or have a history of medical illness, discuss any changes in your recovery or condition with your doctor. If they find adhesions, doctors usually can release them during the same surgery. However, a diagnosis of adhesions usually is made only during surgery. A physician, for example, can diagnose small bowel obstruction but cannot determine if adhesions are the cause without surgery.
Adhesions frequently improve without surgery.
Therefore, unless a surgical emergency becomes evident, a doctor may treat symptoms rather than perform surgery. Two common surgical techniques used to treat abdominal adhesions are laparoscopy and laparotomy. With laparoscopy, a doctor places a camera into your body through a small hole in the skin to confirm that adhesions exist. In laparotomy, a doctor makes a larger incision to directly see adhesions and treat them. The technique varies depending on specific circumstances.