liver shrinking

[dmich 0]

So how do they know if your liver has shrunk? Do they do an ultrasound after you complete the 14 day diet or can they tell just by feeling ? My surgery is oct 17 and no one mentioned an ultrasound to me.

[Driver Deb 10]

So how do they know if your liver has shrunk? Do they do an ultrasound after you complete the 14 day diet or can they tell just by feeling ? My surgery is oct 17 and no one mentioned an ultrasound to me.

They will see it when they do the surgery. Go to youtube and watch the videos of a VGS being performed. You will see the liver and that they have to pull it up out of the way because it rests on the stomach.

[RickM 1,747]

It isn't an essential part of the process, but more of a preference on the part of your surgeon. The extensive pre-op diets that some docs impose doesn't really shrink the liver, but is said to help reduce the fatty/slimy coating that is often present on us fatty liver/obese patients. My doc doesn't do the major pre-op diet program, just the day before Clear Liquids bit, but then he also does liver transplants aside from his bariatric practice, so I guess he is used to dealing with livers in crappy condition. He said my liver was in good shape when he was in there (and I gained a little in the weeks leading up to surgery, for what that's worth!)