It’s the story of a container and a tap. When the first is full, the second allows part of its contents to be evacuated. A completely banal plumbing story, except that it takes place in the human body.
The American Medicines Agency (FDA) has just authorized the placing on the market of a device comprising a tap connected directly to the stomach and which makes it possible to empty a third of its contents after the meal. L’AspireAssist is intended for patients with severe or morbid obesity whose body mass index is greater than 35 and for whom non-surgical treatments have proven ineffective.
The procedure, which lasts 20 minutes and does not require general anesthesia, “consists of implanting a thin tube directly connecting the inside of the stomach to a skin porta device the size of a poker chip located on the outer part of the abdomen, which has a valve that can be opened or closed on demand,” explains Anissa Boumediene in The Parisian.
Two hours after the operation, the patient can go home and perform a “drainage” 20 minutes after the meal. It takes 5 to 10 minutes, specifies the journalist, to relieve his stomach of 30% of its contents.
During clinical trials, patients who have benefited from this technique have lost 12% of their total weight after one year, compared to 4% in obese patients who had simply followed a dietary education program.
If this device is not authorized in France, it does not make the specialists react less. “A bad message”, exclaims in the columns of the daily newspaper Dr. Patrick Bergevin. For this digestive surgeon, “we relieve patients of responsibility by inviting them to simply turn on a tap rather than emphasizing global care, which can encourage dietary deviations, such as bulimia (…)”.
Because the manufacturer ofAspireAssist assures him, “no abrupt change in diet is necessary”. A miracle product therefore, but we know what happens to those who believe in it hard as iron: they are often disappointed.
Whether medical or surgical, the care of a person with obesity is inseparable from psychological support and dietary rehabilitation.
Find The Health Guest with Pr David Nocca
on obesity surgery (May 20, 2016)