Gastric Pacemaker
 

I'm new here and don't know if this thread is active.

I have been on my plan for 11 days and am committed to healthy eating and exercise but just read in You on a Diet about the gastric pacemaker procedure. Apparently it is only in experimental stages in the US but has been approved in Europe.

Does anyone know anything about this? It sounded intriguing and much less invasive than other methods.

No I haven't...I will have to do a bit of research now! I love that sort of thing.

Angela

here we go...

How the Gastric Pacemaker Works
The experimental device - which is called an implantable gastric stimulator - is a small battery-operated electrical generator about the size of pocket watch that is surgically implanted in the abdomen. 2 wires connect it to the stomach wall.

In a similar way that a pacemaker sends electrical impulses to the heart, the experimental gastric pacemaker gives a small current to the stomach through 4 electrodes on the wires. The electrical current is activated, adjusted or monitored by a handheld computer in the doctor's office that communicates to the pacemaker through a radio signal. (Patients typically don't feel anything during gastric stimulation, according to the company.)

It is unclear how the electrical current works. It might cause the stomach to relax and signal a feeling of fullness. It could inhibit stomach hormones that normally increase appetite. Or it may send a satiety message to the brain.

Weight Loss Results so far
About 500 people have received the experimental gastric pacemaker in the United States and Europe since it was first developed in the mid-1990s.

Candy Bradshaw, a 47-year-old Worcester, Mass., corporate manager, had the device implanted in 1999 as part of an earlier study. She said she has lost about 100 pounds using it, going from a size 28 to a 14.

"You don't feel the device at all," said Bradshaw, who'd still like to lose an additional 30 or 40 pounds.

She said the gastric pacemaker makes her feel full more quickly when she eats, so she isn't tempted to go back for second or third helpings. And one bite too many, she said, will leave her feeling "Thanksgiving full."

The device has helped her take a hard look at her food choices and her lifestyle, Bradshaw said. She now power-walks five to seven miles a day and watches the amount of food she eats.

"You have to work with this device," she said. "It has helped me lose weight... . It is not a magic pill."

So far, study results have been mixed.

"After the implantation of more than 200 patients globally, it was found that some patients responded strongly and lost significant weight, while others seemed to have little or no response...," Shikora wrote this year in the journal Obesity Surgery.

In the journal, he said some patients didn't fare well in the early trials because the wires dislodged, people had abnormal eating behavior, or the current was too low. Transneuronix also discovered that some people seem to be predisposed to doing well with the device and has developed a screening procedure to weed out those who won't.

How interesting!

Thanks, Angela. I guess it'll be awhile before it's available in the U.S.

I read somewhere that current trails are being done in the us with this device.

they ARE being done. a first round was done - oh, about 8 - 9 years ago, after success in europe. but, for whatever reason, the pacemaker didn't work as well in US patients. no one ever figured out [at least that i could find!] whether it was something weird with the patients, or with the protocol, or if patients were simply not complying. one of my friends participated in these trials and said that she'd never been in so much pain in her life!

so, i hope the kinks are ironed out for this round of clinical trials!