Question:
Does your stomach heal together or do the staples always hold it together ?

Does your stomach heal together or do the staples always hold it together. Will I always be in danger of leaking?    — Twyla R. (posted on April 3, 2001)

April 2, 2001
The staples come out after two weeks once the skin has healed enough to take them out.
   — Lisa B.

April 2, 2001
Do you mean the INTERNAL STAPLES ? That is a good question; wished I'd have thought of it last Thursday when I had my visit with my surgeon. My Open RNY is this Friday . Hope someone knows the answer to your question . Connie
   — kountry

April 3, 2001
Hi, I am 3 weeks post-op, and I had an open RNY. My surgeon stapled my outside incision with 35 staples and he took them out 2 weeks post-op and my incision is healed very nice with no leaking or drainage at all. Good Luck with your surgery!
   — Valerie D.

April 3, 2001
If I understand your question correctly, you mean the old stomach and pouch. It depends on how they do it. When they transect (cut) the stomach, they use staples and stitches as back up, but the stomach heals, growing together, to make a tight seal. I don't think there's a chance of leakage with this. If they only staple, there can be a disruption, or simply put, they come undone, and leakage results. The stomach doesn't grow together at the point of separation, unless it's been cut.
   — Amy K.

April 3, 2001
My doctor told me that when you are not partitioning the stomach, that is cut it, the internal staples do not ever come out. They are there forever, and they are stainless steel so you don't have to worry about rusting. He says there is hardly no chance of your body rejecting them either. Hope this helps. I was under the impression they dissolved and the stomach grew together the way skin heals.
   — Tiffany_B.

April 3, 2001
When you say stomach, do you mean the organ? Not the skin, right? If it is JUST stapled (& oversewn) and not cut, as Amy said, it will forever be held together by the staples and will never seal shut, although some scar tissue can form. The body can reject the staples in 2 weeks or 2 years or 5 years, as mine did. Or 10 years. If the stomach is cut into two units (divided or transected), each hunk will heal & seal shut, like two purses. The staples are in there then, simply to reintroduce the edges to each other, much as you put a bandaid on a cut, pulling the tow edges back together as a guide for healing. The staples stay there, but you are not dependent upon them for your mechanical success. And then, leak. Do you mean the life-endangering post-op leak that can occur in the first few day post-op? In which case, the manner of attachment doesn't particularly matter (the leak can occur at ANY junction). BUT if you mean staple line disruption, the food leaks back into the old stomach and we regain the weight AND the acid bubbles back up into the pouch. In that case, the food doesn't leak into your guts or anything. Hopefully, you can sort this out to apply to the questions as you meant them?
   — vitalady