Question:
What happens to the staples?

i didnt quite catch what happens to the staple line. After time do the staples disinergrate and the staple line just grows back to normal or do the staples stay in forever??    — christine S. (posted on October 19, 2002)

October 19, 2002
The staples have to be removed. I had mine removed at 12 days post-op by my family doctor.
   — chealsea L.

October 19, 2002
I think you are talking about the staples inside that are holding the pouch together, right? Those will just remain there forever. If your stomach is transected, you should also develop scar tissue, but the staples remain. The staples that are removed are the ones holding your incision closed if you have an open procedure.
   — ediecat

October 19, 2002
hi..im the original postee..yes i ment the actual staple line in the pouch..i was curious if that narea they cut grows back or do the staples hold it in place forever
   — christine S.

October 19, 2002
The staples stay in forever unless you have a revision done. If they remove them and your stomach is back to it's original size, you'd likely gain back all the weight you lost. They are made of surgical steel and don't disintergrate.
   — [Deactivated Member]

October 19, 2002
Actually the pouch staples are titanium, which isnt magnetic. This allows MRIs to be safely done on folks with them.
   — bob-haller

October 20, 2002
I had a lap rny and had many problems with results of a needed dilation - during one of my endoscopy a staple was seen. My surgeon says we two rows of staples the first row the skin dies and we pass the staples or the body forms new scar tissue around them. So I take it from him the original staple (first layer) stays but the second layer skin dies and the staples pass and hopefully do not hang out in your pouch like one of mine did. charlotte jones
   — Charlotte J.

October 20, 2002
Hi If you are transected the scar tissue forms and keeps the pouch intact. Hopefully, if you are not transected this will happen too, but in my first non transected rny, the staple line disrupted. I had it repaired and transected and I asked the surgeon if he saw any of the original staples. He said that he didn't see any of them even though the staples only disrupted at the top of the pouch. I am not sure but I think the staples stay in there and scar tissue forms around it because I just had a Dexascan for bone density and the tech who did it says she could see the staples? This is in interesting question and one we should ask the docs about. Anybody else have an opinion? Whatever happens to them, it must be ok as long as the staple line stays intact.
   — Mylou52

October 20, 2002
As far as commenting to Bob's post about the titanium staples and MRI's I don't know but I do know know that I recently flew from San Francisco to Chicago and passed through the metal detector fine in SFO but on the way back the hand held one went off like crazy at O'Hare. Had to show my scars :-) That was cool :-)
   — crishsapig