A hernia that appears at the site of a previous surgery is known as ventral or incisional hernia.Its very important to get the hernia repaired early on because it can widen and may be extremely difficult to repair when it gets complicated.In most cases these hernias are repaired with the use of a mesh.what is a mesh and how does it work?Its a sterile woven material made from synthetic plastic like material called polypropylene.It is soft and flexible to allow it to easily conform to the body movement.Mesh can be in the form of a patch and are available in various measurements and can be cut to size depending on the repair technique used.It goes under or over the defect or can be in the form of a plug that goes inside the hole and sutured in place. Mesh acts as a scaffolding for the new growth of patients own tissue and helps to ensure outstanding healing and recovery. It allows a flexible scar tissue so that the abdominal wall may move more naturally.Donated human allograft are also used for complicated hernia repairs. A GI consult is needed if u have an abnormal protrusion seen at the site of previous surgical site at rest or on straining.

Diarrhea or loose stools is mainly a potential side effect of sleeve gastrectomy with duodenal switch.Diarrhea may be seen with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass,but would not be associated with lap adjustable gastric banding.Post Duodenal switch( DS ),the usual alteration is soft or loose stools.Frank diarrhea is related to fatty acids directly passing into the colon which normally would have been absorbed in the small intestine.Once in the colon they induce irritation.It can also be due to relatively undigested food passing rapidly through the GI tract.A third contributing factor is sorbitol,found in fruits,berries and artificial sweeteners.In the colon it gets fermented.This causes increased gas and diarrhea .The number of loose stools after DS may vary from 2-3 upto 10--20 per day when it becomes really problematic and very inconvenient.Diet is a major influence on bowel movements after DS.Reducing the amount of fat will have a direct beneficial effect on the number and quality of bowel movements.Usually with close questioning some trigger type foods can be identified and avoided.
Both the DS and RNYGBP(Gastric bypass)may unmask previously unidentified lactose intolerance.An early step is to eliminate dairy products completely from the diet. Management of diarrhea(provided there is no identifiable pathologic or dietary factors)is varied.A dose of imodium at bedtime can reduce the early morning onset. If beneficial,some patients stay on a maintainance dose for long term control under doctors supervision.
Many patients may benefit from a course of probiotics.They are a form of natural colonic flora that is administered orally to restore the natural bacterial milieu towards a normal state.In any post operative patients with watery diarrhea,foul flatus and abdominal cramping the doctor may also consider clostridium difficile(c-diff)colitis or antibiotic associated diarrhea.

Capsule endoscopy lets your doctor examine the lining of the middle part of GI tract.Your doctor will give you a pill sized video camera to swallow.thats wierd isnt it?This camera has its own light source and takes pictures of your small intestine as it passes through and these are sent to a small recording sensor device which you wear on the outside of your body.
The most common reason for doing a capsule endoscopy is to search for the cause of bleeding from the small intestine.it may also be useful for detecting polyps,IBD(Crohn's disease),ulcers and tumors of the small intestine.
An empty stomach allows for the best and safest examination.