From Bench to Bedside: Hydrogel Platforms Bridging Anti-Adhesion Barriers, Tissue Regeneration, and Personalized Postoperative Recovery

Postoperative adhesions represent a prevalent complication following surgical interventions, commonly forming between soft tissue surfaces within body cavities. These adhesions can give rise to severe consequences, such as chronic pain, organ dysfunction, intestinal obstruction, and infertility. Notwithstanding substantial progress in the prevention of postoperative adhesions, their underlying formation mechanisms remain intricate, and there is currently no fully effective approach to preclude their development. Hydrogels, characterized by their highly hydrophilic three-dimensional network structure, tissue-mimetic mechanical properties, and porous architecture, have demonstrated considerable promise as anti-adhesion barriers and as controlled-release carriers for therapeutic agents. In recent years, hydrogel materials have emerged as a focal point in the prevention and treatment of postoperative adhesions, owing to their excellent biocompatibility, tunable degradability, and injectability. Hydrogels have exhibited remarkable anti-adhesive and tissue-regenerative effects through multiple mechanisms, including physical isolation, anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic actions, and controlled drug delivery. This review summarizes the key properties and recent advancements in hydrogel-based anti-adhesion materials, outlines the types and functional characteristics of hydrogels currently utilized for adhesion prevention, and discusses the challenges encountered in clinical translation. Additionally, we explore future directions for the development of multifunctional composite hydrogels, offering novel perspectives and potential strategies for the effective prevention of postoperative adhesions and promotion of tissue regeneration.