A new safe, minimally invasive treatment that may lead to sustained weight loss and reduced appetite in severely obese people has been developed by researchers.
The treatment - bariatric arterial embolisation (BAE) - could offer individuals a viable, safe alternative to surgical weight-loss treatments, researchers said.
A pilot clinical trial evaluated the safety and effectiveness of BAE, as a minimally invasive, image-guided treatment option for obese people struggling with weight loss.
"These early results demonstrate that BAE appears to be effective in helping patients lose a significant amount of weight in the short and intermediate term," said Clifford Weiss from Johns Hopkins University in the US.
BAE targets a specific portion of the stomach (the fundus), which produces the vast majority of the body's most powerful hunger hormone, called ghrelin.
BAE is performed exclusively by interventional radiologists, who use image guidance and catheters to access the specific blood vessels to this portion of the stomach through a small nick in the skin at either the groin or wrist.
The physician then injects microscopic beads to decrease blood flow to that portion of the stomach, thereby suppressing some of the body's hunger signals, leading to reduced appetite and weight loss.
Researchers enrolled seven severely obese, but otherwise-healthy, adults with a body mass index (BMI) ranging from 40 to 60, far above the obesity threshold level of BMI of 30.
After the treatment, researchers tracked the subjects' weight loss, ghrelin levels, hunger and satiety assessments, quality-of-life (using surveys), blood pressure, and adverse events at one-, three- and six-month marks.
In these first seven patients, bariatric embolisation was safe, with no major adverse events. All patients demonstrated weight loss and dramatic hunger reduction levels after the procedure. Ghrelin levels trended down, and quality-of-life scores improved.
In the first month following BAE, participants had an average excess-weight loss (the percentage loss of the pounds above the patient's ideal body weight) of 5.9 per cent. After six months, the participants' excess-weight loss increased to an average of 13.3 per cent.
"Obesity is a highly prevalent, detrimental and costly disease in the US and abroad. Currently, interventions to treat this condition include behavioural modifications, diet and exercise, medications, and surgery," Weiss added.
Situation at Apollo Hospital is similar, with 8-10 cases
of bariatric surgeries being done there.
A hospital source said, "In bariatric (weight-loss) surgeries, women outnumber men at our hospital. Many also come out of peer pressure to shape up or because they wish to cosmetically augment their look, and 60 per cent of these are women.
"Most of the obese cases are related to the age bracket of 20-30."
Chowbey said obesity could be caused by three factors -- hereditary, hormonal or food habit and lifestyle.
"For hereditary cases there isn't much help but for hormone-triggered obesity, the cure is more of medication rather than surgery. But, many people who come for bariatric surgeries, are those who have turned obese due to junk food and alcohol consumption," he said.
But, health is not the only factor associated with obesity, marital and sex life is also getting affect by it, according to the study.
Fifty seven per cent men versus 77 per cent women felt their partners stopped taking care of the weight post marriage. Also, 84 per cent women versus 58 per cent of men admitted that due to obesity one can't dress the way one would have liked to, it says.
Besides, 93 per cent men versus 87 per cent women felt "obesity impacts sexual performance".
"Women affected by obesity are also likely to suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a problem in which a woman's hormones are out of balance and causes small cysts to grow on their ovaries," he said.
Chowbey says, for BMI of 32 kg/sqm, it is called morbid obesity and after 50 BMI, it is superobesity.
"We do get cases of superobesity too in Delhi. We have had patients with BMI of 70 and 90 also," he said, adding, "people go for weigh-loss surgeries also because in India body shaming is also a factor."
According to the study, 8.8 per cent respondents were unaware that bariatric surgery is an option for weight-loss while over 10 per cent said they will consider surgical procedures to fight obesity.
