Palscience

A new laparoscopic implant procedure invented by EnteroMedics which blocks vagal nerve trunks (the nerve the makes you hungry). They implant a device the uses electrical signals which blocks the vegal nerve. The prosedure has already shown success in European trials and it will be soon tested in the U.S and Australia on 300 more patients.

EnteroMedics said that this new method of loosing wight might be alternative to the gastric bypass surgery in which the stomach is surgically reduced to about the size of a lemon, The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery estimates that gastric bypass rates have doubled in the United States in the past five years, from about 100,000 in 2003 to approximately 200,000 in 2007.

How does it work?

When we eat the stomach expands until it cannot expand any more and it will be full of food and drinks. Now, the goal of the scientists was to stop the stomach from expanding by placing two electrode ” laparoscopically” next to vagal nerve fibers at the top of the stomach. What these two electrode do is blocks signals that would normally tell your stomach to expand to accept more food, as well as trigger the release of digestive enzymes and gastric acids in order to slow the digestions.

Results, many patients who had the procedure reported feeling less hungry and feeling fuller earlier, because if the stomach doesn’t expand, they become full after few bites. Moreover, analysis of nine patients who were among the first to receive the implant shows that they lost almost 30 percent of their weight after only nine months.

Via technology review and EnteroMedics