How common are leaks?

I am wondering how common are leaks with VSG? I was talking to an emergency room doctor friend yesterday about my intention to have the surgery and he told me some horror stories about leaks. I searched OH and found some scary stories on leaks. Many of them were posted back a few years ago but some ad recent as last month. That got me worried.

How common are leaks anyway since it seems the subsequent suffering is pretty bad. I hope this is not considered an inflammatory post. I am truly keen on the surgery but what I heard from my friend got me very worried.

Many thanks.

Not very. Of course an ER doctor will have a skewed perspective on this, since it's not like they'll see all the people who have no problems at all. :)

I've been on OH for 3-4 years and can count on one hand the number of people who have had leaks in that time. They're not common. Make sure you vet your surgeon and follow the rules and you have a good chance of being okay.

They are probably about 2% chance of happening. Usually they can be addressed without additional surgery. There are things that can will increase your risk, such as smoking, taking aspirin or taking NSAIDs.

Mainly they are caused by surgical error, so pick an experienced surgeon and ask what their individual leak history has been.

I'm a nurse in the hospital where I had surgery plus had the lap band prior to the sleeve so had a 10 year relationship with my surgeon. He is very honest with me and told me he had one leak and changed his technique to make s slightly wider opening to the colon. He said surgeons were finding the smaller they made the sleeve, the more likely you could have a leak at the top of your stomach due to pressure. They also put in 3 rows of staples that alternate. There are tons of videos on you tube if you want to see the surgery.

I also agree with the comment from the ED doc...that person is only seeing the worst cases compared to thousands of success stories.

Thanks for the reassuring responses. I am a nonsmoker so at least I have that working for me! The doctor is in a reputable University hospital (GW) so I am hoping I won't be a statistic! Cheers.

Leaks are uncommon but are a very serious complication. Your best way to avoid one is to choose a good surgeon and then not eat stuff you are not supposed to. One doctor told me he had a patient get a leak who had gone to a casino buffet 10 days post op and eaten roast beef. Many surgeons do a post op barium swallow to check for leaks. My surgeon does not do this because he things the swallow itself puts strain on the staple line. GL Diane S

Thanks Diane. If and when I get the procedure done I am determined to follow the rules very strictly. In fact, I already started three weeks ago to keep track of everything I eat and follow the instructions ad if I had the procedure done in that I only drink 30 min before or after food, chew slowly and deliberately, small portions, etc. I am keeping my daily calories intake to less than 1,000 calories and have minimum carb intake. Who knows, maybe I will lose enough weight in the next 2-3 months so that when I hear from the insurance company I may have gotten closer to my goal weight :-)

Well good for you for starting new habits now. Its all about changing habits. I had a very long wait for surgery because I had to appeal the insurance denial (I won) but that was nearly 8 years ago now. But I also decided to start eating better and changing my relation ship with food long before surgery so I lost 17 lbs by the time I got there. The first fat you lose is around your liver (says my surgeon) so it makes the surgery and recovery easier if you lose a few. Stomach is underneath your liver so they have to retract it. GL Diane S

Good to know that. I try to see what people eat on the daily post on OH but I think this is probably too limited of a diet? I wonder if there is a guideline on the maintenance diet. I think what I am eating now is less than the maintenance diet, but this is fine I guess to re stabilise my relationship with food.

In talking to the surgeon, surgical fellow and the head nurse as part of my pre op meeting they all mentioned that to date the practice has so far had 4 leaks. Two were very early in the 8 years they have been performing VSG, when they were only using staples. One was because the patient chose to eat nachos 10 days after surgery. My team's instructions are 4 weeks of full liquids, and introduces soft foods starting in week 5. So nachos at 10 days sound like choosing to eat glass. The 4th leak was because the patient chose to take a number of ibuprofen in the first 4 weeks while their stomach was healing.

the technique my surgical team (there are 3 surgeons in the group) uses is a row of tightly spaced staples then over sewing the seam. The now have performed over 500 RNY and around 3000 bypass surgeries. So I believe that this team knows what they are doing.

goodLuck!