Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia

EndoBarrier – Safe Non-Surgical Option for Obesity

by Dr. Reeja Tharu on Feb 4 2010 1:17 PM
Listen to this article
0:00/0:00

Barbara McMackin is a very happy person! She was the first to be fitted with the anti-obesity device called EndoBarrier for a 3-month trial period during which time she lost 17 pounds! McMackin no longer feels as hungry as she used to and is ecstatic that she can easily get into clothes that were once ‘too fit’.

About Endo Barrier

GI Dynamics, a US based company, is in the process of developing a device called EndoBarrier which is fundamentally a gastrointestinal impermeable barrier or a gastric sleeve that prevents food from coming in contact with the intestinal wall.

According to Bariatric Surgery Chief Keith Gersin, M.D., at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., "Endobarrier is a sleeve that is placed without surgery into the patient’s small intestine to help them achieve weight loss.”

The device is implanted endoscopically through the mouth and is placed in such a way that it lines the first two feet of the small intestine. This helps to prevent easy absorption of food as long as it remains in the sleeve and has huge impact on the person’s intake of nutrients and calories.

Salient features:-

• The EndoBarrier is implanted and removed endoscopically.

Advertisement
• The implantation can be carried out as a day procedure

• The overall metabolic effect that results from the implantation of the device is similar to the complicated Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgical procedure in that it helps to resolve type 2 diabetes and bring about weight loss

Advertisement
• Procedure is reversible unlike some of the other bariatric surgical procedures

Currently the device is being considered as a prelude to gastric bypass surgery and hence is treated as a temporary fix. But, according to Dr. Gersin its future, as a non-surgical alternative to weight loss treatment, is extremely promising.

Benefits

A pilot clinical trial, conducted by GI Dynamics on patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, who had the Endo Barrier device implanted in them, revealed a "statistically significant improvement of glycemic control in just one week as compared to a sham control."

Early experimental studies have also revealed that individuals who harbor the device had more weight loss when compared to those with no endobarrier.

Benefits include:-

• Weight loss

• Glycemic control in Type 2 diabetes

• Safe alternative to gastric bypass

• Non invasive procedure

• Rapid recovery

• Lower costs

GI Dynamics is looking at the exciting prospects of employing EndoBarrier in the  treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Of course they are vying at a world wide market, as millions of people could benefit from this potential mode of treatment.

Clinical trial –Highlights

• Clinical study data reveal that EndoBarrier patients experienced a mean reduction in the levels of HbA1c glucose

• This supports the initial findings announced in June at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting that the EndoBarrier rapidly improves glycemic control in type 2 diabetics within a week, irrespective of weight loss.

• The effect of EndoBarrier compared favorably to the current high-impact diabetes treatment, Byetta®.

• Most patients with the device experienced a substantial 51.6 point reduction of fasting blood glucose levels (another major indicator of diabetes) by one week

• Some of these patients were able to stop taking their medication as their blood sugar levels became normal.

• EndoBarrier patients reported an average weight loss upto 27.5 lb by week 30.

Source-Medindia
Dr. Reeja Tharu/L


Advertisement