Had stomach staple in 1980. Looking for others who might share some history and experience

Hi All, I had my "stomach staple" done in 1980, I believe. I was 23, obese, desperate and didn't keep any of my records. I lived in Phoenix and believe my surgeon's name was Dr. Chernov or maybe Chernoff. Now I need an MRI and I thought the surgeon said he used stainless steel staples, which would disqualify an MRI, but when I search history it refers to titanium staples. I need to know what type of staples he might have used. The incision went from base of sternum all the way down and around umbilicus. I lost 100 lbs quickly along with hair. I had a lot of vagal nerve pain if I overate and had to force myself to vomit because the pain was interolerable. I still get vagal pain if I eat enough meat. I was never told to avoid NSAIDS, I haven't really had any GI problems, though my stomach stretched enough to allow me to regain my weight and spend the rest of my life yo-yoing on WW. Can anyone share their experience if they had stapling done back in the 80's, who may have received more teaching, or kept better records?

"Stomach stapling" is a somewhat generic and layman's term for most any weight loss surgery, though from your description and time frame you most likely have a vertical banded gastroplasty.

A couple of thoughts on this.

One is to check with the hospital where the procedure was done (if it still exists and you remember which one it is,) and see if the surgical report still exists in their deep, dark archives.

The other is to talk to the doctor who is ordering the MRI, or the MRI lab about the problem to see what means they have for detecting magnetic staples (stainless steel staples may or may not be magnetic, depending upon the alloy used). From an engineering perspective, I can think of a few ways of checking this, but I have no idea what the standard procedure would be in the medical field, given the tools available. But this can't be that unusual of a problem - it's just easier to put it on the patient to find out. Imagine an unconscious patient taken to the ER after an accident that needs an MRI - how do they determine if there are any magnetic implants in there without the patient's complete medical history? You better believe that they have a means of finding out before putting the patient and a multi-million dollar machine at risk.

You were most likely not told to avoid NSAIDs because at the time they were the new miracle drug that was prescribed for everything, and it was the RNY gastric bypass that is particularly sensitive to them, with the other procedures being somewhat more tolerant.

Good luck in getting this worked out, but there should be a (somewhat) easy solution to it.

1980 was one of the really ealry procedures. I had my gastric surgery in 1990's and the teaching surgeon who did my surgery said that reports were the .."stapleing procedure always failed, sometimes causing holes in the staple line." He had lost family members to obesity and was constantly modifying surgery to give effective and permanent weight loss.(retired now) I would not be surprised, from his information he gave us many years ago, if not only has your stomach expanded but your staples may have pulled loose.

I would urge you to find a surgeon who will do a revision of your gastric surgery. To give you a tool that works properly.

There are more things that can be done.to help you get on track to health. .....increasing protein(start with 90 Grams and see how you do with weight loss), .... decrease carbs (25-50 per day), increasing healthy fats(olive oil coconut oil) , cutting all peanut, mazola,corn, vegetable, canola oil(developed to make cows fat, it made ME fat)

These were my original goals, set for me.

.. I tolerate very little fat or sugar, but tolerate a teaspoon of sugar better than a half serving of any alternatives. I drink unsweetened drinks coffee tea, water.rarely have anything that would pass for a dessert, fruit..pineapple, peaches or mixed fruit in 1-2 ounce serving.

....Stopping all sugar substitutes except stevia.( granulated in PYURE brand, it is processed without chemicals and from one specific Stevia plant.or natural leaf).. asparatine was developed to kill ants,...so must be good for us? huh?

By people like you having surgery , it paved the way for the generation of surgery, which I had and is now obselete.

My surgery incision is a long open one as well.

Mine was an RNY plus banding above and below pouch, a staple line with double suture line one to each side separates my old stomach from the pouch I now use...and i had small bowel resection and all but 2 feet of my colon removed. Gall balder came out as did appendix,many cysts on each ovary and huge fibroids. I had pcos and still have it, but this controlled it for several years.

He also placed a port for a g tube in the old stomach..( emergency access, feeding or testing -secured/ marked with surgical markers) My Mom also had the surgery and suffered a serious stroke. we depended on that port for her feeding and it worked well for her. The Dr explained it took 2$ to install it at time of our surgery, for anyone with the surgery we have, needed g tube, years down the road-it would cost many thousands$$ in a time when someone is possibly medically unstable.(car wreck,stroke). It sure saved Mom a lot of pain and discomfort.

If you want further input from me or have questions i will be back on later tonight..

Hi! Just chiming in here as someone who works to track down prior surgical information to ensure MRI compatibility for scans.

MOST surgical items meant to remain in the body are relatively safe for MRIs, with the clear exception of pacemakers, some older style heart stents, etc. It also depends on what body part we are scanning. If we are scanning your pelvis, it is likely to be safe, but cause "artifact" in the images. This could "potentially" make it more difficult to diagnose issues in that area. If you are having your head, shoulder, knee or ankle scanned, the artifact, if any, wouldn't necessarily impede diagnosis.

Your best option is to call your imaging facility, and ask to speak with an MRI tech.