Endoluminal Bariatric Interventions: Where do we stand? Where are we going?

Background: Obesity is an epidemic leading to high morbidity, mortality, and therefore health-related costs. Thus, there is a huge need for development of safe and effective treatments. Even though success rates of conservative methods are highly limited, the surgical approaches lead to major complications in as many as 25% of the patients. In this study, we aimed to review the currently available, less-invasive, endoscopic bariatric techniques which provides an option to reduce the risks of the patients and the medical costs.

Methods: A systematic literature review through Pubmed and Medline was performed to find the studies on this topic, and all controlled clinical trials, case reports, and case series were reviewed.

Results: Endoluminal bariatric interventions include restrictive, malabsorptive approaches, and other techniques including transpyloric shuttle, botulinum toxin, gastric pacing and vagal nerve stimulation. Restrictive procedures act by limiting the gastric volume and leading to early satiety, while malabsorptive procedures create a malabsorption state. Transpyloric shuttle is a device decreasing the rate of gastric emptying. Botox injection causes a delay in gastric emptying, and vagal nerve stimulation modulates eating behavior.

Conclusion: Endoluminal bariatric techniques can become the primary choice of therapy in the near future for bariatric care.