Gallbladder surgery -

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-28-2004
Gallbladder surgery -
3
Thu, 10-28-2004 - 9:43pm
Hi, does anyone know when you have laparoscopic surgery for gallbladder removal whether they use some kind of clips during the surgery?

Reason I ask, my son had gallbladder removed laprocopically about 2 years ago. He just got back from doctor due to work related injury & they did an x-ray. He has 2 clips inside that was left from his gallbladder surgery. Is this common?

Thanks for any info you may have.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Sat, 10-30-2004 - 7:58am

Hi justme921!


Welcome to the board!!

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 10-30-2004 - 7:20pm

Hummm ? ? ? ? ? You' ve got me on that one. I didn't think they left anything in after GB surgery. I would definately ask what they are, how they got there and what purpose they serve.


Has he been thru airport security since his surgery? Something to consider - would be awful if they set off alarms and when questioned he knew nothing about their purpose. My friend's dh has a pin in his hip and when he travels by air they have to have papers from his doctor explainining that he really does have a hunk of metal inside his leg.


Please let us know what the clips are about,


Jo

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2004
Tue, 11-09-2004 - 5:02am
Yes they use clips during gall bladder surgery. They are not huge metal things either.

Your gallbladder, liver and pancreas are all conected by a common duct and the clips are used to close off the duct that runs from the gall blader to the common duct.

I had the surgery in June 04. The Dr. explained to me that they were about the same size clips that they used with certain types of tubal ligations and that they work kinda like a bobby pin with small teeth to grip the tube and clip it closed. He said they were made of a plastic material and will show up on xrays.

The hardest thing for me about this was listening to the Dr. try and explain to me what the clip was like, as he had a heavy European accent. I had to show him a bobby pin and his face lit up like it was Christmas...I had a hard time keeping a straight face. After that it helped him be able to explain to me how these clips worked.

The only time you have to worry about the clip is if it comes off and the percentage of that is very small, (thats what the DR. told me anyway) They should not cause any problems unless you happen to be allergic to the material the pin is made of and that would show up with in 2-4 months of having the procedure done.

Hope that helps.

Dawn