Lap-Band Complications , erosion

[westgw 0]

Had Band on March 31, 2008. was 480 lb got down to 320lb when I had a sore come next to the port. Dr. said this is the body rejecting the band, if infection was there the might have to remove the band and port, June 17,2009 went in for day surgery and got out hosp. july 20,2009. the found that the body had grown over the band and rubbed a hole in the flap that holda band in place. got very sick 21 day's in ICU now have a scar fron my groin to my chest. haven't worked

from june till today. Lost tone in my legs and had to learn to walk again. Got Gas all the time.

If you got a problem you NEED TO SEE DR. NOW. I had this problem for 4 mo's before sore come up they tell me I lucky to be alive Gary:confused:

[fatgirlnomore7 0]

all i can say is wow , im going to be getting the lapband and i asked my surgeon if your body could reject the lapband and he was like noooo , it;s silicone and i know that your body can reject anything , well im happy you're better now take care god bless

[westgw 0]

Well I hope you do good on the band I had no problem with band tight just body grew over it and rejected it. Sometimes the band grows into your stomach all the way.

Just don't overeat, have a hard bowel movement or any other hard chest movement like sneeze hard!!! good luck Gary

[texancowgirlali 0]

What were your symptons? I'm been having alot of diarrhea and nausea for months now. My gastro Dr. can't seem to find problem. I'm wondering if it could be my band.

[westgw 0]

Hello TX. I had diarrhea and nausea for some time this is april and may so thought it flue. had yellow bowel and liquid. never had pain or trouble eating the VA keep telling me it was the band but not explain to me and when the boil come next to my port that when they said it just was rejecting the port?? only after they took the band out and feed me did they see there was a hole in

stomach . the membrair in your body was growing to the plastic and there was erosion but did not find the hole for 2 days this when I in pain and tied down to bed in ICU for 21 days. my band was in for 14mo's before they took it out, I say go to the dr. who put it in. good luck Gary

[westgw 0]

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Erosion is where the band erodes into the inside of the stomach.

The history of erosion:

Gastric band surgery started in Europe/Australia and they were using the peri-gastric technique (the band was placed lower on the stomach).

When they started seeing a high slip rate with this technique they started stitching the stomach over the top of the band to prevent all the slips they were seeing.

The problem was they were stitching the stomach really tightly over the band. When you have living tissue stretched tightly over a hard object (like band plastic) the tissue will be under so much tension that it won't have good blood flow and will necrose (dead tissue) over time and then the band works itself inside the stomach.

It doesn't erode into the stomach that the inner balloon is squeezing on, it erodes into the stomach that was wrapped so tightly over the top of the band.

Fortunately, the European/Australian surgeons changed the procedure to the pars flaccida technique (place the band much higher on the stomach) and they learned to wrap the stomach tissue much more loosely over the top of the band. This brought the erosion rate down from 10% to less than 1% and over time and with more experience erosions are now quite rare. Every U.S. surgeon that I know uses the new pars flaccida technique.

In our Seattle practice (2,500+band procedures) we had 2 erosions.

When you suspect an erosion on x-ray (fluoro) it is best to proceed with a scope (EGD - scope of the stomach) to make sure the band has indeed eroded, i.e. you can see white plastic from inside the stomach.

If the band has eroded, the treatment is to remove it, let everything heal for 3-6 months and then replace it.

The Australians have a fair bit of experience with this and report good results replacing a new band later. In the past they would put a new band in at the same operation that they removed the eroded band but the re-erosion rate was too high and they now recommend replacing it later.

Erosions vary. Some patients have a tiny erosion (can only see a small bit of the band from inside the stomach) that some surgeons will watch if the patient is still losing weight. I've heard of cases where the entire band erodes into the stomach and it was removed without surgery using a scope to retrieve it from inside the stomach. I have heard of cases where they tried unsuccessfully to remove the band from within the stomach.

Hope that is useful information

brad

__________________

Gastric Band Surgeon since 2002

www.CincyWeightLoss.com

"There are no secrets to success. Don't waste time looking for them. Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure...and persistence." Colin Powell

Remember that every band patient's journey is individual and that reaching your goal is far more important than how long it took you to get there.

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[Lana24 10]

That is serious! Wish you the best with your recovery and thanks for sharing!

[msampson 0]

what were your symptons "for months" before you went to the doctor?

[dmcyaz 0]

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad time of things. Just to let you know you are not alone I will share my story. I went to the doctor monthly after having the band put in May of 2008. I kept telling him I had pain and he looked at me like I was crazy. I was still always hungry and finally he said the band was leaking and 9 out of 10 times it was the port, so he said "let's replace the port". This was 6 months ago. I stll had the same problems , so he decided we would replace the entire unit. (Oct. 2009) I was supposed to be in the hospital overnight but when I woke up in recovery I was told that the band had to be completely removed. The band had slipped, it grew into my stomach, the acid in my stomach corroded the band and the band ate through my stomach. I was in the hospital for 9 days. I was told this was very rare and from what I am finding out now, it is not as rare as they are saying. Please, anyone who reads this; listen to your body and insist that the doctors listen to you. This could have been prevented if the doctor had looked into my complaint about pain by doing a scope test to see the band had slipped. Now all they say is that it is no ones fault and it is just something that happens. Remember, doctors work for you! By the way, I started out at 346 lbs and am now at 270. Since the band was never fully functional I lost this weight by sheer willpower and exercise and will continue to in the future. I had the band in me for 1 and a half years.

[westgw 0]

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad time of things. Just to let you know you are not alone I will share my story. I went to the doctor monthly after having the band put in May of 2008. I kept telling him I had pain and he looked at me like I was crazy. I was still always hungry and finally he said the band was leaking and 9 out of 10 times it was the port, so he said "let's replace the port". This was 6 months ago. I stll had the same problems , so he decided we would replace the entire unit. (Oct. 2009) I was supposed to be in the hospital overnight but when I woke up in recovery I was told that the band had to be completely removed. The band had slipped, it grew into my stomach, the acid in my stomach corroded the band and the band ate through my stomach. I was in the hospital for 9 days. I was told this was very rare and from what I am finding out now, it is not as rare as they are saying. Please, anyone who reads this; listen to your body and insist that the doctors listen to you. This could have been prevented if the doctor had looked into my complaint about pain by doing a scope test to see the band had slipped. Now all they say is that it is no ones fault and it is just something that happens. Remember, doctors work for you! By the way, I started out at 346 lbs and am now at 270. Since the band was never fully functional I lost this weight by sheer willpower and exercise and will continue to in the future. I had the band in me for 1 and a half years.

If someone else has had there band removed and had a stay in the hosp.for more than 2 days let me know we all need to talk about this. Might be some legal problems.

Hope others reed this and ask ???? and put it in writing We made a mistake don't doo the same