Design of a Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulator to Avoid the Postoperative Intestinal Effects

The postoperative intestinal obstruction is an illness characterized by a partial or complete interruption of the intestinal transit, due to adhesions that appear thus a surgical abdominal intervention in 88% of the cases. The 42% of these cases must undergo a surgical experience for the liberation of the adhesions. Unfortunately, whether the adhesions are excised, an inflammatory process will begin; which is the base for the genesis of new adhesions, creating a vicious circle very difficult to interrupt. Therefore, a different treatment for the intestinal postoperative obstruction is proposed by establishing this hypothesis: "After an abdominal intervention; if an electrical stimulation therapy was applied to return the motility of the small bowel, the adhesive growth would be prevented?". Hence, a transcutaneous electrical stimulator was developed for recovering gastrointestinal motor activity; with perspectives to find a new treatment for the prevention of postoperative effects. The constructed electrical stimulator was tested on two male dogs, and the obtained results were successful. The contraction of the small intestine was achieved by the applied electrical stimulation therapy. The outcomes are not completely successful and the transcutaneous electrical stimulator validation has not been accomplished; but whether this idea was reliable, a new method would be found for the treatment of adhesions small bowel obstruction.