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I had a sigmoidoscopy yesterday and my doctor found a foreign body in my pouch. He says “it was a surgical clip, he removed it and it was no big deal”.  Really??!! How can that be no big deal??? I have been in significant pain since being hospitalized in January, 2020 for pouchitis. It had not resolved despite the 4 day stay on gut rest and on antibiotics, nor on xifaxin at home after release, 3 or 4 rounds of Cypro that followed, Rowasa enemas, Alosetron, mesalamine, and budesonide. The only relief I ever got was on the cypro, but all pain and symptoms returned when Rx was completed. My dr refused to give me cypro long term because of eventual immunity to it.  Currently and for the last 24 hours I have no pain, no diarrhea, no excessive gas, no bloating.  Could all the pain have been caused by the surgical clip? Can the relief of all my symptoms be real and because this foreign object in my pouch was removed?  I have searched the internet everywhere with multiple searches to see if this is a common occurrence but cannot find a single thing.       History:  My j pouch surgery was 22 years ago, I had my gall bladder removed about 12 years ago, and a biliary stent placed and removed in November, 2019.

Has anyone experienced or even heard of a surgical clip found in a j pouch or anything similar?

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Um, yes, surgical clips are left in place. Typically, they are often vascular clips and may not be inside the j-pouch. However, the body is an amazing thing. When it perceives something as a foreign body it will work to expel it, even if it takes years. It happens with sutures, orthopedic hardware, vascular grafts, etc.. Also, if you had a polyp removed a clip may have been put in to stop bleeding. These typically slough off in a few weeks.

Hopefully, this clip was the source of your discomfort and your troubles are over. But mainly, the finding of this clip is not evidence of a surgical error.

Jan

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