Hungry for a Way to Control Your Appetite? New Procedure May Help

If you are one of the millions of Americans that struggle with your weight and have a body mass index (BMI) of 35 to 45, you may have considered bariatric surgery to lose unwanted pounds. The rub is that while it may work, it’s invasive, and there can be significant long-term side effects: so much so that only a fraction of those who are obese seriously think about this option.

Now, however, the future of weight loss may lie in a first-of-its-kind, pacemaker-like device that reduces hunger and leads to prolonged fullness without altering or restricting the anatomy. Here’s how it works: The vagus nerve is the communicator between the brain and the stomach. If the communication is interrupted, the stomach tells the brain it’s full sooner. Thus, patients eat less and feel full, allowing for safe, sustained weight loss.

Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in January 2015, the vBloc Neurometabolic Therapy device is the first weight loss device to be available to patients in over a decade.

“Obesity is a global epidemic with consequences to both public and personal health,” said Sajani Shah, Tufts Medical Center bariatric surgeon. “From diet and exercise to bypass surgery, existing treatment options have failed to stop the advance of this disease.”

The vBloc Neurometabolic Therapy device, created by St. Paul, Minnesota-based EnteroMedics, is implanted in a minimally invasive outpatient procedure and allows patients to eat a normal, healthy diet without food restrictions.

“With this new weight-loss option, what’s really important to understand is that it’s less invasive, less complex and there are absolutely no restrictions to what you can eat,” said Shah. “Patients like that it’s reversible, they have more control over their hunger and they have more control over how fast they lose weight. They are able to go back to work within days, and it’s outpatient surgery,” she said.

For Erica Roy, who received her vBloc device over 18 months ago, the results speak for themselves. Down 45 pounds, Roy said she couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

“What is amazing to me about this device is that it doesn’t just affect me physically, it works on helping me address my relationship with food,” she said.

Roy said the device caters to that group of people that feels gastric surgeries like lap band and bypass are too extreme.

For more information, please call 1-800-MyvBloc or visit www.vbloc.com.

"Article By: NewsUSA"