Stretched stoma.

Does anyone know if a band can be placed around the stoma to make it tighter? Not talking about the lap band. I had a revision two years ago,and it seems as if I have no restriction. My food goes right thru me. 

There is a Band Over Bypass procedure, but it doesn't go over the stoma. It has a terrible track record and complication rate. There sre other revisions designed to tighten the stoma, but they almost never work and aren't usually covered by insurance.

It sounds as if you are just guessing though. The vast majority of those who think they have a stretched stomach or stoma do not. Your best bet is to see a doctor and have an endoscopy to see exactly what condition your innards are in.

Thanks for your reply. I know your right.

First of all, you need to have an EGD to be sure that your stoma really IS stretched out.  My surgeon indicated that, in her experience! the pouch and/or stoma are enlarged more than expected in less than 20% of the people she had scoped who said they were controlling their portions and really believed that they has stretched something out.

There are a few surgeons who will do a band over bypass (BOB) using the same band as for stand-alone banding, but not many because of the potential for the band seriously damaging the pouch or stoma.

There are also a few who will use a silastic ring (a ring without the adjustable filling capability of the lap band), but they normally install it at the time of the RNY not as a revision, and (again) there aren't many who use it because of potential complications AND the fact that studies have not shown it to be more effective than RNY alone when done initially (so the risk to reward ratio doesn't justify it). 

Lora

Thanks for your reply.