Non Surgical Obesity

Obesity has become a more significant concern in recent years. A growing number of people are adopting a sedentary lifestyle, with little physical activity. As a result of this poor unhealthy lifestyle, there is a higher incidence of Obesity, among the young generations. 

The statistical data by WHO predicts the prevalence of obesity among children under the age of five, would rise to 11% by 2025. According to World Obesity Federation, 2.7 billion adults will be overweight and one billion people will be obese, out of which 177 million, adults will be severely affected by 2025. 

1. Reasons for Obesity
2. Sedentary lifestyle
3. Inadequate sleep
4. Genetic 
5. Antidepressants
6. Overeating
7. Smoking

 

Risks posed by Obesity

Obesity can cause a lot of problems in your life:

1. Cardiac arrest/heart attack
2. High blood pressure
3. Gallbladder stones
4. Diabetes mellitus
5. Arthritis in knee and hip
6. Cancer
7. High Cholesterol levels in the body lead to blockage of arteries(hardening of arteries).

 If you are unwilling or unable to have surgery, there are several non-surgical options available such as:

1. Nutritional counselling
2. Having a fixed eating schedule
3. Calorie-deficit diet 
4. Regular exercising
5. Consulting dieticians
6. Avoiding sweets, processed foods

The above-mentioned non-surgical treatment methods are usually recommended to you only if your BMI (Body Mass Index) is way above the normal figures (20-25) or have a bodyweight 50 Kilograms above normal. Some non-surgical weight loss procedures are:-

1. Gastric balloon
2. AspireAssist device
3. Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty
4. Endoscopic gastric bypass revision

Before Operation

1. The pre-operation procedure for all the procedures mentioned below is almost similar.
2. You will be required to go through some tests (lab and physical) to make sure that you fulfil all the conditions required before proceeding with the procedure.
3. You might be advised to restrict your eating and drinking.
4. All medications you take will be checked by experts who will advise you if any of them needs to be temporarily stopped.
5. You might be advised to continue with a physical exercise routine.

Certain methods that are predominantly followed are:

Gastric Balloon

1. Besides the approaches mentioned above, the gastric balloon is another non-surgical process that aids in keeping your digestive system healthy. This will be recommended to you only when other non-surgical or dietary methods have failed to show any results and you have a BMI double that of normal. 
2. This method can give extraordinary results when paired with a healthy diet and regular exercise and gives a head start to your weight loss process.
3. However, it is not recommended ,if you have previously gone through any gastric or hernia surgery.

Procedure

1. A durable balloon is inserted inside your stomach through a long tube (endoscope). 
2. The endoscope has a camera and light fitted to its end so that the doctor can have a clear view of your digestive tract. It is used to assist the balloon to reach the stomach. 
3. The balloon is inflated after reaching your stomach, generally with salt/saline water and occupies 40-45% space inside your stomach.
4.   Effect of this procedure 

This leads to a reduction in the amount of space in your stomach to accommodate food and you end up feeling full sooner and satisfied for a longer period. 

The balloon is usually inserted as a temporary accessory inside your stomach for six months.

You are expected to lose at least a quarter of the excess body weight within a year's procedure.

 

Aspire Assist

The AspireAssist is a new FDA approved  device that goes down your throat and into your stomach. It removes more than 30% of the food you ingest from your stomach before it enters the intestine, thereby lowering the calorific content of the food you consume and promoting weight loss. This method will be recommended to you if you have a BMI over 50. 

Procedure

1. A minute incision is made in your abdomen to insert a tube into your stomach.
2. The tube is connected to a flush outside the skin
3. After 30 minutes of any meal, a device is attached to the flush that removes the excess of food consumed.
4. Effect of this procedure
5. In this method there is minimal or rather no damage inflicted to your digestive system and is proved to give almost similar results to other surgeries.
6. You might be able to lose almost half of the excess body weight within the first year of the procedure.
7. Regular monitoring by experts is necessary due to the shortening of the tube attached with time. It is also needed for the detection of any technical problem arising in the device.
8.  This method ensures that the device does not get displaced to the stomach wall.
9. Health Hazards
10. Both the above-mentioned methods come with some common risks attached with them:
11. Abdominal pain
12. Vomiting
13. Diarrhoea
14. Bloating
15. Indigestion
16. Constipation 

Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty (ESG)

This procedure is used for people with mild obesity, having a BMI of 30-40. Unlike AspireAssist it does not require any incision. This method primarily involves stitching of folds in the stomach to reduce its capacity and no part of the stomach is removed. You will not be advised to adopt this method if you previously had issues related to gastric ulcers.

At this point, you may notice the similarity between ESG and Gastric Balloon. Both focus on reducing your stomach capacity thus reducing the amount of food consumed by you. AspireAssist does not reduce your stomach capacity but it ejects all the excess nutrients consumed.

Procedure

1. An Endoscope is inserted through your throat into your stomach, thus allowing the doctor to have a clear view of the interior of your stomach without having to make any incisions or cuts.
2. Then, with the help of the endoscope, the doctor places stitches at appropriate places in your stomach to convert it into a tube-like structure.
3.  Effect of this procedure
4. This method is usually preferred by people because no scars are left on the skin after the procedure. 
5. This method can give you great results in the short term. You are expected to lose almost 15-20% of the original weight that you had before the procedure. 
6.  ESG has helped improve other obesity-related conditions like high blood pressure or high levels of cholesterol in the blood.

Health Hazards

1. Though this process is seen to have the minimum number of complications among all other procedures they are some common issues faced by many people:
2. Leaks in the areas where the stitches are planted.
3. If stitches become too tight, blocks might be created in the stomach.

If the Treatments are found to be Ineffective

Obesity has been declared by some doctors as the disease having the highest reversal rate. Almost 90% of people who have lost weight end up regaining it within the first five years. 

Many times it has been found that people have regained weight after treatment even if the procedure has worked fine. This usually happens when you don’t incorporate a healthy diet and regular physical exercise into your routine.As a result, treatments for obesity may only be a temporary or short-term solution to your weight-related difficulties. They must be supplemented with daily physical exercise and a well-balanced diet.