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Zap Away Those Extra Pounds
A new implant reduces hunger and poses less risk than other weight-loss surgeries
By Carole Fleck
April 2005
Ira Dolin?s health was at stake. His doctor told him he needed to shed 100 pounds from his beefy 6-foot frame if he wanted to keep up with his twin baby girls.
"I don?t want to be coaching their soccer team with a cane when they?re older," says Dolin, 43. "I want to be around for them."
Last July the Illinois resident agreed to participate in one of eight clinical trials around the country studying a promising new treatment for obesity?a pacemaker for the stomach that reduces hunger pangs. It is one of the latest efforts aimed at reversing the rising number of obese American adults?estimated at more than 60 million.
Similar to a heart pacemaker, the experimental, battery-operated device?about the size of a matchbox?is implanted under the skin of the abdomen in a one-hour outpatient procedure. It emits mild electrical stimulation that creates feelings of fullness, so the patient eats less. Researchers hope to determine if the pacemaker?known officially as an implantable gastric stimulator?is a safer alternative to more radical weight-loss surgeries that shrink the stomach or alter the digestive tract.
Steven Adler, executive vice president of Transneuronix Inc., the manufacturer of the pacemaker, in Mount Arlington, N.J., says it could be two years before the Food and Drug Administration approves the device.
Stomach pacemakers have been implanted in 190 trial participants in the United States, and activated in half of them. Members of both groups were given a diet and exercise plan. By year?s end doctors and participants alike will learn who had the working pacemakers and compare how many pounds were shed.
In earlier tests in Europe nearly 500 people with the implants typically lost 25 to 40 percent of their excess weight, says Jay Prystowsky, M.D., gastrointestinal surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, one of the trial sites. The stomach pacemaker has been approved in several European countries and Canada.
"You don?t have to lose a lot of weight to see improvement in [obesity-related] illnesses like diabetes or high blood pressure," he says. People who lose 30 to 40 percent of their excess weight "will definitely be healthier."
Weight loss can be even more dramatic from the two most commonly performed gastric surgeries that alter the stomach to restrict food intake. But the surgeries carry risks.
In bypass surgery, for example, up to 20 percent of patients require follow-up operations to correct complications. Nearly 30 percent develop nutritional deficiencies because the body can absorb only small amounts of calories and nutrients from food. Many feel nauseated or vomit if they eat too fast or too much, or don?t chew enough.
"There are very few side effects [with the pacemaker], and it?s much better tolerated," says Louis Aronne, M.D., clinical professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, another trial site. He expects the procedure to cost about $15,000.
Dolin, who is in the Northwestern study, says he shed about 40 pounds in seven months, although he doesn?t know for certain if his pacemaker was activated. What he does know, he says, is that he feels fuller faster and isn?t as hungry before or between meals.
"I?ve thought about gastric bypass, but the risk of going through a surgery like that?where if you overeat, you get really sick?I didn?t want that," Dolin says. "This was a safer alternative and the surgery was pretty mild. Three days later I was dancing at my brother?s wedding."
Zap Away Those Extra Pounds
A new implant reduces hunger and poses less risk than other weight-loss surgeries
By Carole Fleck
April 2005
Ira Dolin?s health was at stake. His doctor told him he needed to shed 100 pounds from his beefy 6-foot frame if he wanted to keep up with his twin baby girls.
"I don?t want to be coaching their soccer team with a cane when they?re older," says Dolin, 43. "I want to be around for them."
Last July the Illinois resident agreed to participate in one of eight clinical trials around the country studying a promising new treatment for obesity?a pacemaker for the stomach that reduces hunger pangs. It is one of the latest efforts aimed at reversing the rising number of obese American adults?estimated at more than 60 million.
Similar to a heart pacemaker, the experimental, battery-operated device?about the size of a matchbox?is implanted under the skin of the abdomen in a one-hour outpatient procedure. It emits mild electrical stimulation that creates feelings of fullness, so the patient eats less. Researchers hope to determine if the pacemaker?known officially as an implantable gastric stimulator?is a safer alternative to more radical weight-loss surgeries that shrink the stomach or alter the digestive tract.
Steven Adler, executive vice president of Transneuronix Inc., the manufacturer of the pacemaker, in Mount Arlington, N.J., says it could be two years before the Food and Drug Administration approves the device.
Stomach pacemakers have been implanted in 190 trial participants in the United States, and activated in half of them. Members of both groups were given a diet and exercise plan. By year?s end doctors and participants alike will learn who had the working pacemakers and compare how many pounds were shed.
In earlier tests in Europe nearly 500 people with the implants typically lost 25 to 40 percent of their excess weight, says Jay Prystowsky, M.D., gastrointestinal surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, one of the trial sites. The stomach pacemaker has been approved in several European countries and Canada.
"You don?t have to lose a lot of weight to see improvement in [obesity-related] illnesses like diabetes or high blood pressure," he says. People who lose 30 to 40 percent of their excess weight "will definitely be healthier."
Weight loss can be even more dramatic from the two most commonly performed gastric surgeries that alter the stomach to restrict food intake. But the surgeries carry risks.
In bypass surgery, for example, up to 20 percent of patients require follow-up operations to correct complications. Nearly 30 percent develop nutritional deficiencies because the body can absorb only small amounts of calories and nutrients from food. Many feel nauseated or vomit if they eat too fast or too much, or don?t chew enough.
"There are very few side effects [with the pacemaker], and it?s much better tolerated," says Louis Aronne, M.D., clinical professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, another trial site. He expects the procedure to cost about $15,000.
Dolin, who is in the Northwestern study, says he shed about 40 pounds in seven months, although he doesn?t know for certain if his pacemaker was activated. What he does know, he says, is that he feels fuller faster and isn?t as hungry before or between meals.
"I?ve thought about gastric bypass, but the risk of going through a surgery like that?where if you overeat, you get really sick?I didn?t want that," Dolin says. "This was a safer alternative and the surgery was pretty mild. Three days later I was dancing at my brother?s wedding."
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