VBG & Staple Line Disruption

Well folks, I had an endoscopy done today and I have a color picture at the bottom of my profile of what my nice big hole into my old stomach looks like. {sigh} I'm back at square one except now I have two openings where food is draining out and I'm even more ravenous than before I had surgery. Now I just have to find out what it is going to take to get me fixed. And, no, I'm NOT going to agree to letting the hubby use his staple gun out of his workshop and save us some money by doing the repair himself! =) DeeDee

DeeDee How awful. I hope they are able to fix that hole up. The picture made the "hole" situation very clear. PS -- I agree; stay away from the hubby's workshop!! Good Luck! Sharon

Hi DeeDee, I ruptured my staple line out completely after about a year, so I feel for you. I can now eat an entire pizza in one sitting, and I am also ravenous all the time. I wasted my 'tool' of surgery, so now it's up to me to get back in control if my eating and not gain the weight back. I am at least maintaining my current weight thanks to the support of people here. I can't get a revision/repair unless I gain all the weight back, and I do NOT want to do that. Good luck, Tammy

OK - this is probably a stupid question, but I have to ask this. How does this staple line disruption occur? Was it a fluke? Was it Dr. error? Was the pouch just stretched out over time? I don't want this to happen to me, so I'm hoping you can clear this up. Also - can this happen again (or can they double staple you or something?!? BTW - great picture (although not what YOU want to see). It really gives me clear idea of what is going on in there! Best of luck to you. Thanks for the insight! -Wendy

Good question Wendy Jane but that is a great photo and the drawing is very good too ! allyson harris 6-30-04 -30

Wendy, There are probably a lot of ways a staple line rupture can occur. Mine was because I started filling my pouch by eating more as it stretched out, and drinking with meals. Obviously, I recommend against both of these things, but the diet prescribed by the doctor and his nutrionist of 150 calories a day just got too hard after 6 months. I gradually started eating a little more and a little more...then once I accidently drank with a meal and discovered it wouldn't kill me so I started doing it every time. I still managed to go without eating sugar and starch for two years, but when I started eating it again, I couldn't stop. The sugery did not change my compulsive eating problem. I did have a double staple line... Hope this helps. Tammy

I have an appointment with my surgeon Tuesday and I'll let you know what he says about what went wrong. I contacted another surgeon about doing a revision and he told me that VBGs have a 40% failure rate due to staple line disruptions. I did a LOT of research on the topic of staple line disruptions and revisions. Here are some of the comments I found that might be of interest: ? SLD's do NOT usually occur from people pushing the limits of their pouch. They occur because the stomach tissue rejects the staples. If you think about it, the body is doing what it's supposed to...rejecting a foreign object. That is a big misconception that the patient somehow caused the SLD...don't believe it! The total regains you hear of many years down the road is often a SLD, and the patient is usually too ashamed to approach the surgeon, feeling they've failed. The great majority of the time, it's a mechanical failure. And, sadly, many surgeons still do not transect the first time around. ? I've had both the VBG and RNY. My staple line disrupted at around the 5-6 year mark, post-VBG. I gained back almost 100 pounds before I found out I could get it revised to an RNY. It's not a question of "out-eating" the VBG, SLD is a common mechanical failure of the VBG and even non-transected RNYs. The stomach cannot form a good line of scar tissue with staples alone. Even if there is a 40% failure rate that means 60% are having success with the VBG so I'm not about to criticize it at all. It just didn't work for me whether that means I failed the surgery or the surgery failed me. The one thing I do know is that I trusted my pouch to let me know when I had had enough to eat. I knew that I would get to a point of being able to eat a bit more as time went along. Somehow it just evolved to a point where I was eating full meals and gaining weight. I realize now I shouldn't have trusted my pouch so much. I should have measured out my food and stopped at 2-3 ounces. The problem lies in the fact that I'm every bit as ravenous now as I was pre-op. If I could have just stopped at 2-3 ounces pre-surgery I wouldn't have needed the surgery. =) DeeDee

Hey DeeDee, My story is almost exactly the same. SLD with VBG at 5-6 years post op and then a revision to RNY. I felt the same too, thought I had done something wrong - I didn't even KNOW what a SLD was much less that it was possible. Thankfully a friend was getting RNY and I did some research for her and found out I could get a revision. I went back to my same surgeon who was terrific and did the scope (although I didn't get a "souvenier" photo!) He does not even do VBG anymore due to this problem. I was transected with the RNY, so now if I gain it will be my fault thru bad food choices. It looks like you were not transected with your RNY, can the surgeon go in and do that? I mean, I know he can, but is insurance willing to pay for a repair?

 I HAD RNY SURGERY 6 YEARS AGO AND DEVELOPED BLEEDING ULCERS BUT WHEN I GOT AN ENDOCOPE THEY SAW THAT MY STAPLE LINE WAS DISRUPTED,I DID NOT KNOW WHAT THAT MEANT ALL THE DOC SAID ITS FINE EXCEPT YOU WILL GAIN WGT ,I GAINED 80LBS BUT I NEVER GOT TO EAT REGULAR MEALS MY STOMACH STILL GETS CRAMPY AND BLOATED WHEN I EAT ,I GET SICK WITH MOST FOODS SO I WAS EATING BREAD AND BUTTER OATMEAL AND CHEESE MOSTLY SOFT FOODS,WHY IS IT THAT I CAN NOT EAT NORMALLY LIKE MOST POST SURGERY PTS AND ESPECIALLY NOW MY STOMACH IS NORMAL SIZE ALSO I CAN EAT ALL THE ICE CREAM AND CAKE BUT NOT REAL FOOD,I'M VERY CONFUSED I'M ALSO THINKING ABOUT GOING IN FOR A REVISION OR IF POSSIBLE CAN I HAVE THE OLD STAPLES TAKEN OUT OF MY STOMACH?