Question about scopes and strictures

I didn't want to post this under the Arlene thread because I wanted to keep that for her. But, I was wondering, I've heard quite a few people talk about having scopes, what exactly are they for and how often do you have them? Also, what is a stricture? Still learning here!! Thanx all~ Michelle

Strictures can happen at either end of the new pouch. Most common is the opening. It is called the stoma. While not a common complication (sorry I don't have any numbers to support this), it is not rare either. Many of us on the WA board have had them. It is caused from the healing of the stoma. Sometimes the stoma heals too much and closes off the opening to the pouch. My doctor likes the opening to be 12mm. I believe the doctor is the one who decides how big to make it during the surgery. So, it can vary from doc to doc. Renee, didn't your doc make yours bigger? Hopefully, you will never have one. When you talk to your doc, you should ask his opinion on what causes them and how big your stoma will be. Oh and a scope is when they stick a big tube down your throat to take a look around. If there is a stricture, they insert another device to gently stretch it open a little more. My profile talks about my experience with them. I go into a lot more detail with the first one if your interested. You should at least know what to look for so you don't let it go for too long. Having them can make you wish you had never had surgery in the first place. Hat

Wow! That doesn't sound pleasant at all! One of my friends who've had the surgery talked about her opening being too small, that must be what she was talking about. She said that she didn't want to have the doc open it up any more because she was afraid that she'd be able to eat too much. I thought I'd read your profile, but I don't remember that. Gonna have to go read it again!!! Hugs~ Michelle

I read that about 12% of bypass patients suffer strictures. Stoma: Short for Anastomosis. The Stoma in a gastric bypass refers to the opening between the stomach and the intestine. The stoma is purposely made small - about 1.0 to 1.5 cm in diameter. Stricture: Generally used in bariatric surgery to refer to a narrowing of the stoma. Stricture can also refer to a narrowing anywhere along the intestine. These generally occur weeks to months after the operation and may need to be dilated back to the optimal size using endoscopy, or may require a re-operation to correct. :D Nan

There you go. Nancy is definately the info person on this list. She has the best answers. Hat

ya know......I have my own theory about strictures, one others (not on this board, but friends I have that have had WLS or about to and their Dr's feel the same way) feel the same way about. And that is the amt. of time you're supposed to be on a liquid diet, then pureed etc...Now, this is just MHO, but I feel that "real" foods need to be introduced sooner than some Dr's say. I couldn't stand the liquid phase and I actually started to just chew "real" food about a week out. Now, mind you, I pureed such foods in my mouth til they were liquid in there before swallowing, but I was able to just naturally progress along on my own. I'm not advocating going against your Dr's orders, but for me, after reading other's post-op instruction's and talking w/other post-ops I proceeded on my own. My opinion is that the longer you wait to eat "real" food, the more chance you have of letting the stoma heal up too much from lack of use (for lack of a better way of describing it). Again, this is MHO and I've not had any stricture issues ::::::knock on wood:::::::::::: so please, no flames please. A friend of mine is having surgery in a month or so and even her Dr. said soemthing similar. His post op plan is to introduce "solids, though well chewed" much sooner than my Dr says to do.

I am 17 months post-op and thank God that I have never had a stricture and have never ever had to be scoped - but it is one of the things that can happen with wls unfortunantly Joy

I had surgery 8 months ago. I attend a support group monthly that my surgeons office sponsers and very few of us have had a stricture. I remember being told that the stricture could be caused by scar tissue and that if we ate anything other than full liquids for two weeks after surgery then we would run the risk of this side effect of the surgery. I had a special diet for 12 weeks post-op. I can now eat almost anything and I have been assured that being completely healed I couldnt hurt my pouch but could make myself sick if I really wanted to. This is just some other information to share with you on why strictures happen as reported by my doctors office. HTH -Gerriann 153+ pounds gone forever!