Success Rate After Revisions

 Here are links to two research studies on the successes and failures of the different types of revisions to RNY.   From a bariatric journal:

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/revision/3886215/Everyone-should-read-this-Revision-Procedures-for-Failed/

and

www.obesityhelp.com/forums/revision/3886208/Great-article-on-RNY-revisions-from-Bariatric-Journal/

I hope you are also asking this question on the DS board.   That is where you will get the most  accurate  information on the RNY to DS revision.   Most RNY to DS revisioners hang out there and only come onto the revisions forum occasionally.

Thank you so much for the links. I haven't actually posted this on the DS forum yet. This is some great reading!

Hi,

I am a band to sleeve. 5 years with a band and 14 months now with a sleeve. I did better with the revision than I did with the band, although I was successful with both. Here are my stats:

334 start weight with band June 2003
180 lowest band weight September 2004

Total loss with band: 154 lbs.

Sleeve starting weight: 242
Present weight: 165

total lost with band and sleeve 169 lbs

77 lost with sleeve
92 lost with band

I weigh less than what I lost!!!

So I cant speak for all revisions, but mine is very successful!!

Babs

Congrats Babs! Your revision has been very successful. I hope to have great results too.

What a great question!  I have been in the revision-needed stage for a while now.  I had my RNY back in Nov 2003 and the lowest weight I achieved from a 369 high was 237, but plateaued and maintained at 245 for months.  Then a gradual creep started happening.  I hadn't changed my diet or exercise, then at least, but I was gaining.  When I hit 255, I panicked and went to the Dr.  who told me not to worry and sent me home.  That was in 2006.  In 2007, I crept up to 270 and went back to my surgeon who put me in for a revision and a fix to my stretched stoma.  BCBS said I had to go back through the diet plan phase etc. - I had already spent large amounts of money and time with that routine the first time and was barely recovering from all the financial output (plus student loans) years later.  Anyway, I got depressed and gave up.  I stopped trying to eat correctly, gave up on everything - and almost killed myself.  I was already anemic and apparently malabsorbing iron until I had 0 in my body.  Since then, I've gotten on an iron infusion regime, am retaking my vitamins, and back on my food plan.  It has definitely curbed the weight creep, but it hasn't eliminated it.  I'm hungry all the time. So, I'm interested in checking out the revision again, but I'd like it to be a success!  I'm not sure how I stretched the stoma the first time around, but that's my biggest concern. 

Is the DS going to make a difference in that?  My last surgery was open but I'd like to stick to something laproscopically this time around.  Thoughts?

 The DS would make a difference in your stretched stoma as it requires the surgeon to take down your pouch and reconstruct it.  It would also put your pyloric valve back in place.  You no longer would have to worry about a stretched stoma. 

But make sure, if this is the route you go, that you are very compliant with your vitamins and protein.  The DS will  give you a greater malabsorption component then what you have right now.  It will be critical for you to stick to your vitamin and protein regime.  If you are not good at taking vitamins (and probably more of them with the DS) then revising to a greater malabsorption procedure may not be the best choice for you.

Since a revision from RNY to DS is one of the most complex and carries with it the highest risk for complications make sure you get a surgeon who is a specialist in these types of revisions and who has performed literally hundreds of them.

Hi Lady:

Unfortunately if your first surgery was open...chances are, your second will be open due to the large amount of scarring that takes place from an open procedure...Now that is not set in stone, but I've been around the block with this surgery research having 2 prior WLS and 1 abdominal surgery....

And really, I wouldn't have it any other way as there are many things that go on after weight loss surgery and a Dr. should really have a look around to see what's going on in there....That is really hard to do with a lap procedure.

Hope you are feeling better these days and are successful in finding the right procedure for you, sounds like the DS might be just the thing you need to get you to goal!

Oh yea, And I agree with everything MEW said as well....

Good Luck.

Janie

http://www.dssurgery.com/aboutus/Research/safeoperation.pdf

Revisions are less likely to lose as fast or as completely as virgin surgeries.  That is true.  There are some successful revisions, and the DS has the best results of all revision surgeries.

The ERNY has all the disadvantages of the DS (signficant malabsorption) AND the disadvantages of the pouch.  The ERNY is more likey to result in more serious vitamin deficiencies than the DS, because while both cause issues with fat soluble vitamins, DSers are less likely to malabsorb B12 (we have a stomach, not a pouch, and some of the duodenum that absorbs B12 bound to intrinsic factor made in the lower part of the stomach); less likely to be anemic (again, we have some of our duodenum, where iron is mostly absorbed, plus we don't have a stoma that can have marginal ulcers and bleeding); we have the ability to eat more food, and to eat foods that frequently bother RNYers, and thus less likely to have protein issues.  Eating high protein and high fat without dumping is nice too.