An implanted gastric pacemaker fakes fullness to stop you eating sooner.
An implant, intended as a less drastic alternative to stomach stapling or stomach bypass surgery, senses when a person is eating and generates a premature sensation of fullness by stimulating nerves that curl around the stomach.
In trials involving 65 patients the device led to an average weight loss of 22 percent after one year, with some patients losing as much as 38 percent of their body weight.
The implant, called Abiliti, is also equipped with an accelerometer that shows a physician how much exercise the patient is getting.
Abiliti is about the size of a pacemaker and is designed to be implanted within the abdominal cavity but outside the stomach through minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery.
Two leads connect it to the stomach—one for sensing and the other for stimulating.
A sensor is passed through the stomach wall; this detects when food enters.
A stimulating electrode that's been attached to stretch receptor nerves outside the stomach then sends sensations of fullness to the brain via the vagus nerve.
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