A New Hope...

Some new information I found. But who has $3,500? Anybody feeling like helping me raise the money???

lol

Seriously though, $30,000 of taxpayers money is spent on the Gastric Bypass, when approx. 1/10 of that could be spent on a less invasive procedure?

That's really smart...

MONTREAL - In a North American first, doctors in Montreal on Wednesday placed air-filled balloons in the stomachs of two obese patients to help them shed weight.

The device, the size of a softball, floats in the stomach and makes patients feel full soon after eating. What's unique is that it doesn't require surgery.
Patients are sedated, and a doctor inserts the device into the stomach through a tube in the mouth. Once in place, the triple-layered silicone balloon is inflated.

The procedure takes no longer than 15 minutes.

Six to eight months later, the patient returns to have the balloon deflated and removed. Studies have shown that patients lose up to 30 kilograms solely because of the balloon.

"This is going to have a tremendous impact in fighting obesity," said Clifford Albert, who helped places the balloons in the patients at the MD Specialists clinic in Westmount.

"The beauty of this device is that it's a completely reversible solution. It's an easier and quicker way to treat obesity than gastric bypass surgery, which is permanent."

Mirielle Dube, a 65-year-old retired hospital worker, walked out of the clinic with a smile on her face after having the balloon placed in her stomach under local anesthesia.

"I'm confident that I'll be able to play with my two granddaughters again," said Dube, who is 5-foot-2 and weighs 187 pounds.

Dube gained considerable weight three years ago after she stopped her daily walks because of a foot injury. She confessed to eating lots of fast-food and bread, and has tried all the fad diets in vain.

"I would never consider gastric bypass surgery," she said. "It's too dangerous and the waiting lists are too long. Hopefully, this balloon will give me the momentum to change my eating habits."

Health Canada approved the balloon last December. The device and procedure costs $3,500 per patient and is not covered under medicare.

There are some side effects like acid reflux, nausea in the days after the procedure and mild pain in the upper curvature of the stomach that could radiate to the shoulder.

Dube said she felt fine, though, an hour after the procedure.

The balloon is manufactured in France by Helioscopie SA. Since it was approved in that country in April 2004, doctors have placed more than 1,300 in patients.
It's a second-generation technology. There is another intra-gastric balloon, manufactured by BioEnterics Corporation, that is filled with a saline solution. A study by a French gastroenterologist has shown that the rate of complications from the saline-filled balloon is much higher than the air-filled one.

"The advantage to this balloon is that it positions itself to the top of the stomach, where there are receptors that give a sensation of being full," explained Hubert Cluadez, author of the study.

The balloon was initially recommended for the morbidly obese to help them lose weight before risky gastric-bypass surgery. But doctors discovered that the balloon could also render surgery unnecessary.
Gastric-bypass surgery, which drastically changes the anatomy of the stomach, has a death rate of two per 100 patients in the first month after an operation, increasing to five in the first year. Its $30,000 cost is covered under medicare.

Please leave your comments and let me know your thoughts.

Until then I remain,

Joel Sopp