Staples ????

When they staple your stomach after gastric bypass, do they ever remove them ??? Or they are there forever ???

Staples are there for good. Question for the Doc is whether or not they ‘transect’ the stomach. That prevents any possibility of staple-line disruption in the future. Staples and a pouch implies an RNY procedure, There’s also the DS, the Lap-Band, VSG and others. Welcome to the Men’s Message Board. We’ve got some of all of the different types of procedures represented here. Just throw out a question and someone is most likely to have experience and info to share. Best Wishes- Dx

Cool thanks for answering so quickly ! Have you ever heard of cases of them falling off ??? Are the doctors unsure about the long term effect of this staples holding on ??? Also is that one of the reasons why I have read before "water taste like metal" after surgery ????

I haven't heard of the metal taste happening to anyone or of staples coming out. Dx brings up a good point because some doctors do not physically detach the upper and lower stomachs and I have heard of leaks getting between them. I was never that comfortable about the staples not leaking until I viewed a video of the actual surgery on the internet. You can just enter gastric bypass video in Google and find numerous examples. What put me at ease was when I saw that they used an automatic stapler that very neatly makes a very nice line of small staples. It looks like a fine seam on a piece of clothing, my surgeon also did two to three layers of stitches on top of that to be sure there were no leaks, and then he inflated the pouch and submersed in water to be absolutely sure. Good question...welcome to the men's board or the locker room as we like to call it around here...by the way cool avatar...

BK, yep, yep, &yep. "falling off?" No, But, there are folks who had simple stapling off of a portion of their stomach to form a pouch, and later, the stapled off portion opened back up leaving them with same full sized stomach as before. Sort of started by one or two staples letting go and just "unzipped." (to use an analogy) So it left them with a semi-scared stomach, but full capacity and with the food moving through "The old stomach" into the duodenum, just as if they never had the surgery. It is rare, but does happen. That’s one of the major problems that calls for folks to seek "revisions." There’s a Revisions Forum at- http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/revision/

??? Are the doctors unsure about the long term effect of this staples holding on ? No, not "unsure," but like with every surgery, there’s always the chance of a "screw-up." The staples are statistically fine, but, since it takes the skill level and "touch" of the doc out of the equation and relies on a tech device to "set the staples’ if the stapler needs to be adjusted or fine-turned, that’s something the doc might not know until after it screws up. Follow? Just going from a "Stapler" as the example- If you were sewing 2 pieces of paper together, you’d know right up front if you could and if you had finished doing it adequately. But when you go to use a stapler? Do you check it before you pop the two pieces of paper together? Nope, after the fact, you look to see if it worked or not. Surgical "Staple-Misfire" is one of the rare yet possible complications of this surgery. Probably some folks on the revisions or complications Forum could share personal info of just that. Water tasting like metal after? Early on after, yes. Longterm? Not so much. Following ANY surgery that uses general anesthesia, the taste and smell senses are totally whacked! Not a result of Bariatric procedure on any longterm basis. Some may claim that, but no evidence to support it. I had more odd taste/smell changes after my open heart surgery than with my WLS. Best Wishes- Dx

 I am a childhood cancer survivor, and have had staples in me for 20 years now.  I had 1 kidney removed as part of that process.  No long term effects in my case.  You can see them in x-rays post-op which I think is pretty cool.