Sundararajan, MD, director of interventional endoscopy at Riverview
Medical Center in Red Bank, N.J.
The procedure is relatively simple. You attach the deflated balloon to
an endoscope and place it in the stomach. You then inflate it with 600
mls of saline solution and detach the balloon from the scope, says Dr.
Gross. Often doctors will also inject the balloon with 10 ml of methylene
blue, which changes the color of urine, thus alerting the patient to a
popped balloon, says Dr. Hlivko.
The device sits inside the fundus region of the patient's stomach for
6 months, keeping the patient from overeating by taking up space
inside the stomach. Once the 6 months are up, the doctor will conduct
another endoscopy, puncture the balloon and use suction to remove
the saline solution from inside, says Dr. Sundararajan, adding that
patients typically lose 25 to 45 pounds in the 6 months that they have
the balloon.
• Double gastric balloon. While the single gastric balloon has been
increasing in popularity over the past few years, so has another, simi-
lar device that uses 2 balloons. The doctor inserts and inflates 2 bal-
loons that are attached to each other, and then fills them with saline.
"It looks like a dumbbell," says Dr. Hlivko, adding that the 2-balloon
device has an added benefit: If one of the balloons pops, it will still
remain in the stomach, anchored there by its other half and reducing
the likelihood that you'll have to surgically remove it from the small
intestine
• Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty. Along with adopting new devices
for endoscopy-assisted weight loss, doctors are also looking at ways to
use older devices in newer procedures. Take endoscopic sleeve gastro-
plasty, for example.
The procedure mimics the already popular sleeve gastrectomy, in
which most of the stomach is removed surgically, says Dr. Gross. But in
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