I understand that fluoroscopy can help determine band restriction, however I keep reading posts referring to it being used to locate ports. Is it really used for this purpose?

Yes, in fact a lot of doctors do all of their fills under fluroscopy. They can watch the needle go right into the port. My surgeon tries first in his office and only uses fluroscopy if he has trouble locating the port, but it varies widely from physician to physician.

Thanks Anwyn. Now what I want to know is that if the fill is done using fluoroscopy to find the port and determine the fill, approximately how long does it take. I have concerns about radiation exposure.

My PA uses the fluro to check to make sure the barium goes down. They locate the port by feeling for it or using a camera, but not the fluroscope itself. I lay down on a table, they find the port, insert the needle and add the saline. It takes about 3 minutes for the fill and 20 seconds standing at the fluro to drink the barium and watch it.

I guess this is where I got confused in the first place. The barium part makes sense to me, I had that the day after surgery and it was short and sweet. Using it for finding the port seems like a lot of exposure for both patient and dr.

Devana,

I am an x-ray tech and have been in the field for 12 yrs. Let me try to clear it up for you. They use fluoroscopy (live x-ray) in order to locate the port which shows up under x-ray. The amount of exposure is minimal because the physician regulates the on and off button. There is a max of 5 minutes on most machines before a buzzer goes off reminding the physician of the exposure amount which is still in regulation. The normal exposure time is roughly 4-5 seconds each time he turns it "on". Your physician doesn't need a lot of time to locate the port. It will just show up within that first 4-5 seconds and then he made need to expose maybe 2-3 more times equaling less than approximately 30 seconds. You receive much more than that spending a day at the beach or swimming. The physician also wears a lead apron to protect himself from exposure. Think about how many fills he may do in a day and all the exposure he is subject to and then think about in contrast to how much you are getting in that one visit. That is why the patient does not get a lead apron. Also, the apron would be in the area of interest (abdomen) during the x-ray. Having that apron there would prohibit the location of the port. Don't worry about the amount of exposure. It is all regulated by national and state standards. Hope this helps...

Kim, thanks so much for the clarification. I was imagining the worst, ie constant exposure for 5 min or so.

I believe it can also show if you have a slipped band or if you've stretched your pouch. :eek: