Obesity & technology: Can the stomach be fooled?
[ FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2006 01:13:44 AM]
MINNEAPOLIS: The company that invented the heart pacemaker is employing the same technology to trick obese patients into thinking their stomachs are full. And Medtronic, the world’s biggest maker of medical devices, is not the only medical technology company trying to tap into the $100bn obesity market.
While, Medtronic is trying to develop a battery-powered gastric pacemaker that causes the stomach to contract, and sends signals of satiety to the appetite center in the brain.
A small start-up also is working with the famed Mayo Clinic on a device that uses electricity to paralyse the stomach, reducing or stopping contractions that churn food as part of the digestion process.
Doctors and companies across the US are looking at various technologies to combat obesity, including brain stimulation.
These methods, though not completely understood by doctors, may be preferable to bariatric surgery since device-based treatments are reversible and have fewer side effects. Despite failures so far of some devices in clinical trials, companies are pushing ahead, convinced that medical devices hold the key to battling obesity.
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