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Expression of Transforming Growth Factor  1 in Patients With and Without Previous Abdominal Surgery
Kristina G. Hobson, MD;
Michelle DeWing, MD;
Hung S. Ho, MD;
Bruce M. Wolfe, MD;
Kiho Cho, PhD, DVM;
David G. Greenhalgh, MD
Arch Surg. 2003;138:1249-1252.
Hypothesis Transforming growth factor  1 (TGF-1) plays an important role in the formation of adhesions after abdominal operations.
Design Prospective, observational study.
Setting University-based, tertiary referral center.
Patients Patients undergoing elective open abdominal operations were recruited and divided into 2 groups. Twenty-two patients with a history of abdominal surgery were designated as study patients, and 10 patients with no history of abdominal surgery served as controls.
Interventions Samples of normal peritoneum, peritoneal scar tissues, and serum were obtained from all patients at the time of surgery.
Main Outcome Measures Samples were assayed for total TGF-1 expression using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results Scar tissues expressed significantly greater amounts of TGF-1 (0.47 pg/µL) compared with normal peritoneal tissue from both study patients (0.29 pg/µL; P = .03) and controls (0.17 pg/µL; P = .002). Serum TGF-1 levels were also higher in study patients (1.71 pg/µL) compared with controls (1.22 pg/µL; P = .02). Neither adhesion nor serum TGF-1 expression correlated with time since last operation, total number of previous operations, or severity of intra-abdominal adhesions.
Conclusion These results suggest that TGF-1 may play an important role in human peritoneal adhesion formation.
From the Department of Surgery, University of California–Davis Medical Center (Drs Hobson, DeWing, Ho, Wolfe, Cho, and Greenhalgh), and the Department of Burn Surgery, Shriners Hospitals for Children–Northern California (Drs Cho and Greenhalgh), Sacramento.
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