What is a stricture?

sjbob
on 9/3/11 10:10 am - Willingboro, NJ
 I don't have one, but a friend who had RNY over a year ago has started having severe abdominal cramps after eating.  I think he should contact his PCP but I have heard people mention strictures in the past and I just don't know what they ar.
Sharyn S.
on 9/3/11 10:58 am, edited 9/3/11 10:59 am - Bastrop, TX
RNY on 08/19/04 with
An anastomosis is a surgical connection between the stomach and bowel, or between two parts of the bowel.

As the anastomosis heals, it forms scar tissue, which naturally tends to shrink ("contract") over time, making the opening smaller.  This is called a "stricture".

Usually, the passage of food through an anastomosis will keep it stretched open, but if the inflammation and healing process outpaces the stretching process, scarring may make the opening so small that even liquids can no longer pass through it.

The solution is a procedure called gastroendoscopy, and stretching of the connection by inflating a balloon inside it.  Sometimes this manipulation may have to be performed more than once to achieve lasting correction.


Sharyn, RN

RIP, MOM ~ 5/31/1944 - 5/11/2010
RIP, DADDY ~ 9/2/1934 - 1/25/2012

sweetpotato1959
on 9/5/11 3:58 am
 I think ..it could be a stricture...or gastritis, or dumping..
       .it may be the diet he is choosing....it could be combining certain groups of food... I can't eat high fiber foods followed by warm liquids...for instance neither can I have something sweet (even artificially sweetened)at night and have coffee in the morning...but I'm not constipated either!  
           He should cut back to a bland diet/ elimination diet...( High protein shakes  are a good way to do this and keep up energy..).. til it resolves and slowly add foods to determine what is setting his system into such distress.Having such a bleey ache is NO fun.,
     It would be helpful to the PCP or surgeon..(if a visit is required). For this person to document, a food  and fluid log for 3 days. sometimes that will help us discover what the problem is without  going to the MD... ...   is it everything  they eat? Is it certain combinations? 
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