While bariatric surgery is commonplace and growing in popularity and use, there will be rare occasions when complications arise. In most cases, this is because the patient was unable to follow the prescribed post-op plan and a healthy lifestyle, this leading to either not losing weight or even gaining weight.
However, there have been times when complications from the surgery itself mean a revisional procedure is needed. This could be from leaking staples that cause pain, a slipped band causing nausea, or an enlarged gastric pouch that promotes weight gain. In some cases, scar tissue can build up, closing passages that allow food to enter the digestive tract.
All of this information will be taken into account before a revisional procedure will be performed.
What is Revision Surgery?
Our surgeons will look at the details of each patient’s history and make recommendations to help determine if revisional surgery is indeed feasible. On a case by case basis, we will investigate why a revisional surgery might be needed, whether it can be performed, or if other solutions exist.
In general terms, revisions of previous weight loss operations or conversions from one type of bariatric operation to another are possible. We have had excellent success in this area, but several things should be kept in mind when making the decision to have another procedure done:
- Revisional operations have a higher complication rate than “first time” operations – primarily because of the scar tissue requiring more dissection of the tissues. The scar tissue and the resultant dissection may result in healing problems.
- Revisional operations require a “restart” from a psychosocial standpoint – that is to say, you must change what you do, as the operations are only a tool (this is our philosophy for “first time” patients as well).
- While revisional operations can be effective, they are usually less effective than first-time operations – you tend to lose less excess weight than “first-time” operations.
Revision Surgery Pre-Op
If a patient has already had bariatric surgery, they should be familiar with the pre-op protocol. However, MIC treats every procedure the same. That is, all of our patients go through the same screening process whether they are familiar with the process or not.
The reason we do this is that something didn’t happen the way it should have. So our surgeons will talk with each patient before determining if a revisional treatment is the proper course of action. This discussion will cover patient history.
This is especially important if our doctors didn’t perform the initial surgery. The more information we have, the better we can diagnose the patient’s issues and recommend solutions. In some situations, laparoscopic surgery may not be utilized if there is too much scar tissue from the first operation.
We also want to make sure you understand the necessary dietary restrictions as well as exercise requirements. We will want to know if you were able to comply with the post-op diet or stick with a physical activity schedule.
There are many factors why an initial Gastric Sleeve, Lap Band, Gastric Bypass or other bariatric surgeries didn’t perform as it should. That’s why we repeat the process once again to make sure everyone is on the same page before proceeding with the revisional procedure.
