Question:
Okay, all these questions about staples and transection, I have one now??

I just had my first consultation last thursday and I asked my doctor if he transected the stomach. He actually transects the stomach completely and staples both sides off. My question is this. If you only transect and do not staple, wouldn't your stomach and pouch have a huge hole in them? I know that it may sound pretty dumb, but if you don't put staples in, what holds it together?    — enjo4 (posted on July 6, 2000)

July 6, 2000
It isn't that the transection is used instead of the staples, it is used in addition to the staples. At first, the staples and sutures are the only thing holding your stomach and pouch closed, but after a while, scar tissue forms where the stomach was cut and forms an even stronger closure of the pouch. The staples are still there, but if they ever did break down, the scar tissue would prevent your pouch from opening back up.
   — Lynn K.

July 6, 2000
The advantage of the divided gastric bypass technique is that it avoids the problem of "staple line dehisence," a risk in other surgical techniques where the staple line dividing the two portions of the stomach breaks down and reverses the weight reduction benefit of the surgery. The divided gastric bypass with Roux-en-Y gastro-jejunostomy consists of separating the stomach into two sections using parallel (2-5)rows of titanium staples, with the staples additionally over-sewn or secured with sutures as needed. The staples remain fixed and do not migrate. Rupture of staple lines (rare since the process of dividing the stomach has practically eliminated staple line disruptions). It has also been noted on many sites that I have visited that by doing RNY in this manner also eliminated the chances of pouch stretch as long as not abused by the patient. <p> Open Divided proximal RNY 12/8/99: Beginning weight 367 Now at 6 months post op 240.. 127 pounds gone forever. Visit my webpage for my weightloss journal and weightloss pics.. <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/vbowen">Gastric Bypass Information, Links and Recipes</a><br> My pics: <a href=" http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/Vbowenweightloss">My weightloss pics</a><br> and my cookbook for Gastric Bypass Patients Great tool for pre-ops and post-ops <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/VBowenCookBook">Gastric Bypass Cookbook</a><br>
   — Victoria B.