Does Pain In Mid Right Stomach Below The Breast Indicate Complications In Staples?

Posted on Wed, 30 Apr 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 30 Apr 2014 Answered on

Wed, 21 May 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : Back in 1981 I had a bad bike accident. My spleen was ruptured and I had hundreds of staples to repair my spleen. It is now 33 years later and I am worried that the staples arent good or something is going on because I have a slight pain in my mid right stomach right below the right breast and when I press on the fat and massage it it gives a little relief. I weigh 170 pounds more than when I had this surgery back in 1981.
Should I be concerned?
Or is it just gas?
Do staples last forever without ripping?

Answered by Dr. T Chandrakant (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
This may not a spleen problem

Detailed Answer:
Hi.

Thanks for your faith and query.

First of all to clear the point- the spleen is on the left side of the upper abdomen well under the rib cage. The pain you described is on the right side of the abdomen bellow the right breast.

The possible reasons to get the pain are infection of liver/ gall bladder, pancreas and so on. To confirm the diagnosis I would recommend such a patient to undergo a clinical examination to get an idea and guideline for further investigations and management. Ultrasonography and an X-ray of the chest along with blood tests will be enough to get at a diagnosis.

You should be concerned as this may be a serious problem.
This can not a due to gas.

Staples last forever without ripping and your surgery was done way back in 1981. So no need to correlate with this.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad