Did you have a gastric sleeve leak and if you did what was the reason?

[KII 1]

I recently had my sleeve 20 days ago and even though I am perfectly alright I just keep thinking about the leaks and if I will randomly just develop one and all the Google searches I made are not really helpful

Do you know why a leak might occur and when can I be sure that I am out of risk for that and relax

Are they common?

Any information at all?

[Arabesque 7,470]

Didn’t have one but I understood if you are to experience one it usually occurs in the first few days. While you need to seek help as soon as possible if you suspect a leak, they are usually repaired fairly easily via an endoscopy. You’ll likely be on antibiotics after to ensure any infection is cleared. I have three friends who’ve had sleeve surgery too & none of them at one either. They’re pretty rare I think like 1%. And even rarer if you have one in the years post surgery.

Leaks occur because of a suture/staple failure, tissue decomposition, patient health prior to surgery affecting healing like a history of smoking or high blood pressure, food choices (not following your plan), excessive activity to strain & cause trauma to the area.

[catwoman7 11,223]

ditto on what Arabesque said. They're very rare and they almost always catch them before you even leave the hospital. You're likely out of the danger zone at this point (although like she said, they're treatable). I wouldn't worry about it.

[FifiLux 527]

I had one as a complication after sleeve surgery and it was found a month later when I collapsed at home and had to go by ambulance to hospital. The cause was suture failure.

My symptoms then were weakness (could barely stand), fever, nausea with vomiting and abdominal pain. It is a rare occurrence so if you are not suffering with any of these I think you don't need to worry, you are just causing yourself unnecessary stress when you are already going through enough to deal with following surgery and coping with food planning etc.

I also had other complications post surgery with pancreatitis and abdominal abscesses so basically anything that could go wrong did, I ended up spending three months in hospital over a period of four months.

They closed the gastric leak by using clips and mesh via gastroscopy but that failed, twice. I now have a tube coil like thing that was inserted in order to drain Fluid and hope that the hole will then have time to heal and close.

The only information I was given in advance of the surgery about it was that it could happen but the surgeon did not go into detail and just said she had never had a patient have a leak, guess I am her exception if she will admit it to others in the future. No other details given to me such as cause/effect/symptoms.

Edited February 18, 2024 by FifiLux

[KII 1]

12 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Didn’t have one but I understood if you are to experience one it usually occurs in the first few days. While you need to seek help as soon as possible if you suspect a leak, they are usually repaired fairly easily via an endoscopy. You’ll likely be on antibiotics after to ensure any infection is cleared. I have three friends who’ve had sleeve surgery too & none of them at one either. They’re pretty rare I think like 1%. And even rarer if you have one in the years post surgery.

Leaks occur because of a suture/staple failure, tissue decomposition, patient health prior to surgery affecting healing like a history of smoking or high blood pressure, food choices (not following your plan), excessive activity to strain & cause trauma to the area.

Thankyou very much for the clarification

12 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Didn’t have one but I understood if you are to experience one it usually occurs in the first few days. While you need to seek help as soon as possible if you suspect a leak, they are usually repaired fairly easily via an endoscopy. You’ll likely be on antibiotics after to ensure any infection is cleared. I have three friends who’ve had sleeve surgery too & none of them at one either. They’re pretty rare I think like 1%. And even rarer if you have one in the years post surgery.

Leaks occur because of a suture/staple failure, tissue decomposition, patient health prior to surgery affecting healing like a history of smoking or high blood pressure, food choices (not following your plan), excessive activity to strain & cause trauma to the area.

[KII 1]

1 hour ago, FifiLux said:

I had one as a complication after sleeve surgery and it was found a month later when I collapsed at home and had to go by ambulance to hospital. The cause was suture failure.

My symptoms then were weakness (could barely stand), fever, nausea with vomiting and abdominal pain. It is a rare occurrence so if you are not suffering with any of these I think you don't need to worry, you are just causing yourself unnecessary stress when you are already going through enough to deal with following surgery and coping with food planning etc.

I also had other complications post surgery with pancreatitis and abdominal abscesses so basically anything that could go wrong did, I ended up spending three months in hospital over a period of four months.

They closed the gastric leak by using clips and mesh via gastroscopy but that failed, twice. I now have a tube coil like thing that was inserted in order to drain Fluid and hope that the hole will then have time to heal and close.

The only information I was given in advance of the surgery about it was that it could happen but the surgeon did not go into detail and just said she had never had a patient have a leak, guess I am her exception if she will admit it to others in the future. No other details given to me such as cause/effect/symptoms.

Ohh, bless you

Hope all will go back to normal soon (if it's not already) and Thankyou very much for sharing your experience with us