Revolutionary new weight loss procedure in trials

BALTIMORE, Md. (WPVI) -- Radiologists at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, have developed a whole new way to fight obesity.

In a small trial with seven patients, they injected microscopic beads into a blood vessel in the area of the stomach which secretes ghrelin, a hormone which drives appetite.

Reducing the hormone reduced the amount study volunteers ate.

The volunteers lost an average of 5.9 percent of their excess weight in the first month.

In six months, they'd lost 13 percent of the excess weight, well above what prescription drugs offer.

The procedure, called "bariatric arterial embolization," is much less invasive than gastric bypass or gastric sleeve operations.

Those are currently the dominant procedures for patients who need to lose large amounts of weight.

More patients are being enrolled in trials for the procedure, both at Johns Hopkins, and now at Mt. Sinai Health System in New York.

Early results on trials of the new process were detailed at the Radiologic Society meeting in Vancouver, B.C.

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