Is it typical to leave surgical clips after galbladder surgery?

Question

My fiancee had galbladder surgery in March, after the doctor said everything would be okay, he still had serious problems. After going to the ER and a follow up visit with the primary care doctor, he was informed that they left surgical clips. Is it normal? or would have the surgeon advised us if they were needed to be left in there??

Answer 1

It is a normal part of the procedure to clip the blood vessels and duct that lead to the gall bladder, especially if the surgery is done laparoscopically.  If not clipped, the artery and vein would bleed, and the duct would spill bile into the belly.  The clips are permanent and meant to be left there.

Surgeons do not typically explain the minutiae of the procedure to patients.  Your surgeon probably did not discuss his/her choice of instruments, use of cautery, or which brand of suture s/he used to close the wounds.  Surgical clips are used in many operations to control bleeding from vessels that are too large to burn with the cautery.  They are a heck of a lot faster than hand tying them with sutures.

Answer 2

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It depends on if it would cause more harm than good to take them out. By leaving the clips in it can help prevent improper adhesion to other organs during the healing process. However, in rare cases masses can form where the clips were left, so are only left if deemed necessary.

That being said, he should have been told that they were being left in, despite the practice of surgeons withholding that information.

Answer 3

yep.

There's no other way to know, radiographicallly, that a patient is s/p chlolesystectomy.