A novel instrument and technique for using Seprafilm hyaluronic acid/carboxymethylcellulose membrane during laparoscopic myomectomy.

Myomectomy is associated with the development of adhesions, and even when the patient is operated on laparoscopically, postoperative adhesions can often occur. Seprafilm is an effective and highly safe barrier to postoperative adhesions. However, it is vulnerable to tears and difficult to handle. We developed a device to introduce Seprafilm into the abdominal cavity during the laparoscopic procedure. Seprafilm is divided into 6 pieces and the pieces are rolled and inserted into the purpose-built introducer to be guided into the abdominal cavity. The inner syringe is pushed in and Seprafilm is applied onto the uterine wound with two grasping forceps. Of 117 patients in our study, we were able to use Seprafilm on 114 patients (97.4%). In total, 221 pieces of Seprafilm were used, and 87 pieces were damaged during the operation. Of these 87 pieces, 58 were damaged when inserted into the introducer, though this kind of loss tended to decrease with training, and 29 pieces were damaged during application to the wound. Seprafilm can be used safely and efficiently during laparoscopic surgery.

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