Reagan Afflicted With Scar Tissue in Intestine

Former President Ronald Reagan has developed scar tissue, or adhesions, in his intestine, which his physicians believe resulted from his 1985 colon cancer surgery, a spokesman for Reagan said Friday.

The spokesman, Mark Weinberg, said tests at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, including a CAT scan and blood tests, had “revealed no evidence of cancer or any other disease” and that “neither surgery nor hospitalization is contemplated at this time.”

“Such adhesions are not uncommon and are not dangerous and the president’s physicians consider him to be in otherwise excellent health,” Weinberg said.

Nevertheless, the 79-year-old former President has been advised to “limit his traveling for the next several weeks,” Weinberg said, adding that the Reagan’s planned trip to Europe next month “will be postponed.”

Adhesions--bands of scar tissue that binds two surfaces that are normally separated-- frequently develop after surgery as part of the normal healing process. But they are only a problem when they are severe enough to cause kinking or obstruction of the intestine.

Symptoms of severe adhesions may include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain or constipation. In such cases, surgery is usually required to cut the scar tissue and free the loops.

“Everyone I see with adhesions usually has some symptoms and is hospitalized,” said Dr. Steven Stain, a general surgeon at USC Medical Center in Los Angeles. Stain, who is not treating Reagan, said he “may have a partial intermittent obstruction of his intestine that causes him minimum symptoms.”

Weinberg said Reagan’s physicians were “monitoring and evaluating his condition consistent with standard medical procedures,” including a check-up conducted Friday.

He would not say whether Reagan was receiving any specific therapy for the adhesions. He also said he had no information about whether the adhesions were diagnosed in response to specific symptoms.

Reagan had a series of health problems during the eight years he served as the nation’s chief executive, including surgery for colon cancer in July, 1985.

Surgeons found that a two-inch tumor had spread into several layers of the wall of the colon segment that they removed. But there was no evidence of spread elsewhere. At the time, they said Reagan’s odds of surviving for five years or more were better than 50-50.

Since the surgery, Reagan’s regular medical care has included periodic examinations of his intestine with a colonoscope to check for signs of recurrent tumor.

Since leaving the White House in January, 1989, the President and his wife, Nancy, have resided in Bel-Air. Reagan “visits St. John’s for evaluation and consultation with his physicians as they recommend,” Weinberg said.