Sep 3, 2008 5:27 pm US/Eastern
Pacemaker-Like Device May Help Obese Drop Pounds
An experimental weight loss device works by slowing down digestion
The obesity problem in America has led to countless new weight loss strategies from low-calorie diets to drastic surgery; but now a new device falls somewhere in the middle.
John Lawrence, 51, says he loves food and tends to overeat. "I have not been a thin person -- I don't think -- at any time in my life."
Lawrence says he's tried to lose weight -- but diets failed and he didn't like the idea of surgery to make his stomach smaller. "It seemed way too dangerous. It had too many side effects. I've seen people lose then balloon back up."
Then he heard about an experimental technique that didn't seem as drastic. It works by slowing down digestion.
Dr. James Maher is a surgeon at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. "Hopefully what this will do is encourage the patients to eat fewer calories."
Doctors first implant a device about the size of a pacemaker inside the abdomen. It sends electrical signals to block the vagus nerve, which normally helps the stomach expand to take in a meal and contract to digest it.
"If we're right about what the vagus nerves do, then if you can't accommodate a large meal, you get full more quickly," Dr. Maher explains. "If your stomach's not emptying as quickly, you don't get hungry again as quickly."
Patients wear a belt with a coil over the implanted device to turn it on.
"When they take the coil off at night," Maher adds, "they're no longer treating themselves and so the nerve completely recovers during that period of time."
It's a double-blind study, so John Lawrence doesn't know if his device is really on or not. What he does know is that since he's been wearing it, he can't eat as much and he's already lost 40-pounds in the last two months.
Dr. Maher says it will take several years before they'll know if the device works; but Enteromedics, the company that makes it is already working on a completely implantable version.
For information about the study, log onto ClinicalTrials.gov, then type the following trial identification number in the search box: NCT00521079 More information is also available by calling 1-866-291-9146 (Mondays through Thursdays from 8am-8pm or Fridays from 8am until 7pm) or by clicking on the following links:
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