This may be a really dumb question but can J pouchers get an MRI of the abdomen? I have had MRI of the head before but I’m wondering with the metal surgical clips ?
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Yes, it's called an MRI Enterography and is a common diagnostic test for suspected Crohn's or inflammation above the pouch.
This thread discusses the MRI Enterography test in detail:
https://www.j-pouch.org/topic/...study-of-small-bowel
Its a 3 hour or so procedure due to having to drink and then be injected with contrast.
As far as having metal staples, I didn't get those, mine were dissolving sutures (unless you mean immediate post surgery wound staples which come out after a couple weeks). It's very foreseeable that one needs to get through airport scanners, Court metal detectors and have MRI exams, so I am not really sure exactly what you mean. I am guessing you are good to go for airports and MRIs except for any temporary hardware you may have.
I had a stapled pouch procedure and I haven’t had any trouble with MRIs (most recent one one week ago), nor was anyone concerned about the staples. I believe they are generally made of titanium, which isn’t affected by the magnetic field.
Our staples are not magnetic, but still let the doctors/ techs know everything just to be on the safe side.
We all have at least vascular clips in us after surgery, even those of us who had hand sewn pouches. You don’t need to worry about them being dislodged or your fillings coming out of your teeth. They need to know if you had bowel surgery, as there may be some distortion.
Jan
@Jan Dollar posted:You don’t need to worry about them being dislodged or your fillings coming out of your teeth.Jan
Over the past 3-4 years I have had to replace quite a number of fillings that fell out of my teeth, including a very substantial one very recently. Most of these fillings were anywhere from 20 to 35 years old. The one that most recently fell out was on my upper right wisdom tooth and it was a nightmarish procedure during which my jaw muscles got severely sore from having to crack my mouth open wide enough for 1.5 hours while my dentist replaced the awkwardly located filling. It sucked, totally.
2 good pieces of news: (1) the old silver fillings from the 1980s have now been replaced with a tooth colored substance that blends in with the tooth so you don't look like you have a mouth full of fillings from satiating your sweeth tooth; (2) I now have dental insurance to cover these aggravating issues.
I asked my dentist how long my new fillings would last. His answer? "Really hard to say." When asked why the old fillings fell out, he essentially blamed me. He said that my sharp edged, wolf like upper teeth, combined with my hard natural bite (which he tested) produced a concerning effect of "punching down hard" on my lower teeth, which pounded and wore down the enamel and the fillings over time. Kind of sounded like normal wear and tear to me, but the old "blame the victim" spiel does tend to effectively blunt blame away from the dentist or his predecessors.
Well, blaming the shape of your teeth is not the same as blaming you. The crush forces in chewing are enormous, and your bite factors in greatly. Blaming you would be suggesting you should not eat so many jawbreakers or open beer bottles with your teeth! In any event, you got more than the expected lifespan of those fillings. Unfortunately, the newer composite porcelain type fillings may not last as long. Metal has better “give” and shock absorption. It just is not as attractive.
Jan