I know that the stomach is stapled and cauterized when the larger part of the stomach is removed during sleeve gastrectomy, but what happens to those staples? Are they metal staples that remain in the body or are they removed post-op or do they dissolve?

They remain.

For ever and ever, the are titanium and will be there when you return to the earth. They will cause NO problems unless you are one of the extreme few that is allergic to titanium.

Shoot...missed the opportunity to ask for Adamantium ones.

I thought about that for the first time the other day. I found an interesting youtube video by Dr. Alvarez that covers it:

Is this what they use to make a pouch in GBS too?

Thanks for the information everyone....the video was awesome, and really put any concerns I had to rest.

Again, thanks.

That video was awesome! Answered alot of questions! Thank you!

Great question and awesome video. Thanks everyone...I really learned a lot!

Will it buzz at the airport check? What about harm when getting an xray??

They will not buzz the airport. I have flown at least 4 times post op, no problems at security. If you had a body xray that actually showed the much detail then it will show a very small stomach and the TSA are trained to recognize those things.

I'm more concerned about the radiation issues. And I had a feeling you'd be the one to answer my question CPA! U seem to know all the answers!! Very helpful thank u.

They will not buzz the airport. I have flown at least 4 times post op, no problems at security. If you had a body xray that actually showed the much detail then it will show a very small stomach and the TSA are trained to recognize those things.

Hey, after viewing the great video the first thing that I thought of is; what's keeping the stomach together? I had pictured the staples somehow drawing the edges of the cut stomach together but the are drawing the surfaces together. Now with skin and other tissues if you draw the surfaces together and not the edges (or at least the INSIDE surfaces) they will not heal together. The inside surfaces of the stomach are touching and the staples put through the two layers. The inside surfaces won't stick to each other and grow together, normally it takes roughing up or ablating the surfaces to make the surfaces join together so the blood vessels can join the two tissues together.

I hope I am making sense. Is it only the physical tension of the staples keeping the stomach together and / or the scar tissue on the edge all that holds it together? Do the surfaces of the stomach that are touching and the staples go through actually fuse?

The way my doctor explained it to me.....the staples are actually like a "zipper" and not individual staples. The body realizes the staples are "foreign" material and the scar tissue actually "seals" all the way over the inside of the staples will no longer show up if you looked with a camera on the inside of the stomach. He showed me a photograph of three months after the surgery from the inside of the stomach no staples were showing only smooth red stomach tissue.

Awesome video, thanks for posting!

how long does it take till you are 'out of the woods' for a leak then? when the scar tissue grows over?