Do you feel there are more post surgery complications with U.S. based doctors, since they have quite a bit less experienced than European or Mexican based doctors? How many of you had post surgery complications: e.g. flipped ports, sliped band, etc.?

My port is flipped at 90 degree angle and inaccessible for adjustment. I need to have another surgery to correct it. I'm self pay and it is not going to be cheap. My dr. is U.S. based.

Thanks for your opinions.

Renata

Hi Renata,

I'm so sorry to hear about your port problem. And it's even worse because you're a self-pay. What a drag!

I don't really have a comment on your question except to say that port problems are not frequent. It would stand to reason that they're probably more common with US doctors, since the surgery is newer in the US than elsewhere. I can't even guess what the percentages are...but of course even if they're very small it doesn't really matter because every specific case is a huge hassle for the patient.

The good news is that however inconvenient such a problem is, it's easily fixable and you'll be right back in the game. My doctor said this sort of thing can be repaired under local anaesthetic in the office; it's not at all like going through surgery again.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Hi Renata - I just had my port repaired about 2 weeks ago - and I don't think I woul dhave had any pain BUT I eneded up catchinga cold 2 days before having the repair. That is what caused the pain - all the coughing and sneezing. It was done under a local and I didn't feel anything - just some tugging and a little pulling but aboslutely no pain. It will be ok!!

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you. I don't know what the stats are for foreign vs. US docs, but I'm sure it happens at least occasionally with any doctor.

How many bands has your surgeon done?

Hope that you can get this fix soon and then go on to success from here on out!

Renata,

I tend to think it's a relatively rare complication that is seen more because more and more bands are being done...you know, a "law of large numbers" thing. Here's a study on port placement and complications.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14738680

I would hope that my doctor read it before s/he tried to replace the port.

Good luck,

Sue

Sue,

that's a very interesting study. If I understand correctly, the location of your port makes quite a bit of a difference with regards to likelihood of tilting or flipping. Mine is on the left side, just bellow my rib cage. I've seen several people refer to a scar in the middle of the torso just bellow the breast as their port scar. What is the most common location? Where do you guys have yours?

BTW, my dr. is looking into signing up with a surgical center in order to cut the price of the surgery to fix the problem. It's probably going to be about half the price of doing it in the hospital, which is really helpful. Waiting for the paperwork and the appointment is unbearable though. Oh well....

Renata

02/03/06

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