Expert: John Pilcher, MD - 12/3/2010

Question
I wanted to know with RNY surgery how often the vegas nerve is damaged? I have a friend who had stomach stapling surgery some years ago and now has Gastroparesis due to the nerve being damaged in surgery. I am going to have RNY surgery along with my husband on Dec. 9th and I'm a little nervous about this. any input on anyones part would be helpful. thank you!!  

Answer
Carol,
I'm pleased to let you know that damage to the vagus nerve is very uncommon during gastric bypass.  This is especially true in the era of laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery, because the surgeon is able to see precisely what they are cutting/clipping/etc.

Your friend who had stomach stapling a number of years ago may have had an older operation called a Vertical Banded Gastroplasty - this is the operation most commonly called "stomach stapling" and it commonly caused long term stomach emptying problems.

On a final note, this is a great question to ask your surgeon.  There were some older techniques that involved routinely cutting the vagus nerve with some blood vessels for simplicity, but with current surgical skills it is not necessary to take short cuts like that.

Best wishes,
Dr JP