I talked to my nurse today, to talk to the doc and ask him if he could go

with a smaller bougie than the 48 fr that he had originally talked about.

Apparently at some point he went with a smaller size with one patient

and they ended up with a stricture.

Has anyone had this?

I dont hear about it often on this board, so I would have to think

thats its not that common.

Thx

whats a stricture?

GASTRIC STRICTURE

Any procedure that was performed with the intent of restricting the amount of food the stomach can hold as a means of achieving weight loss can potentially lead to a permanent and excessively tight area of the stomach, called a stricture. This can follow a gastric bypass, a stomach stapling procedure, an band procedure or a gastric sleeve. The symptoms of a stricture are very similar to those of a Slipped Band and may include:

CHRONIC VOMITING OR REGURGITATION OF UNDIGESTED FOOD

EXCESSIVE WEIGHT LOSS

UPPER ABDOMINAL OR CHEST PAIN AFTER EATING

Relieving these symptoms can sometime be accomplished by simply stretching the stricture, usually with an endoscopic dilator under sedation. The relief may last a few days or many months, depending on how tight the stricture is and how easily it could be stretched. When this treatment fails to provide lasting improvement the solution is reoperation.

The surgeon's goal is to open the strictured area sufficiently enough to allow food and fluids to pass through without difficulty, typically using a procedure known as a stricturoplasty. One of the side effects can be weight gain since the restriction has been eliminated. Occasionally, the stricturoplasty is combined with another procedure to help maintain the benefits of prior weight loss surgery. However, in this situation the main objective is to restore the anatomy of the stomach to the point where the patient can eat enough to maintain healthy nutrition.

I have a 32fr, and have not had anything close to a stricture. From what I've read, the strictures were seen with smaller than a 32fr. It seems the most "popular" sizes are from a 32fr to a 40fr for most stand alone sleeve procedures.

I haven't read about many strictures, and from what I have read that it's not a common complication. Apparently, it's when scar tissue grows and interferes with the passing of food/liquid into the stomach, or a twist in the tubular shape of the sleeve. I'm not sure what the percentage is on patients that experience them.

Thanks for the responses..I guess I will go with it and hope it works for me, but I sure wish he would go smaller. But, at this point I am not giving up my surgery date, I guess go for it and hope for the best

Thanks,

Lisa

I just got home from having an endoscopy and balloon dilation. The problem I had been having with food sticking, and the vomiting was because of this stricture. I probably shouldn't have waited so long, but my doctor said all the surgery sites are well healed. It might have something to do with the large hiatal hernia repair that was done at the same time as the VSG. Now maybe I can eat a little more variety of foods. It was getting to be all very soft and mostly liquids. It has been great for weight loss! I hope this helps.