Gastric Artery Embolization Stops Weight Gain in Animal Study

[cat lady]

Interesting article. Oddly enough, the endocrinologist that told me all my diagnostic labs were invalid and that I should get gastric bypass since medical science would never figure me out specifically told me to get a Roux-en-Y bypass because it would short circuit the brain/stomach loop of ghrelin and simple banding would not (Despite the fact that I and my husband both told him I hardly eat at all). Needless to say I tossed the GI surgeon's card he gave me and didn't follow up with him. Still, it is an interesting article.

 

Gastric Artery Embolization Stops Weight Gain in Animal Study

 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Sept 17 - In a porcine model, catheter-directed chemical embolization of the gastric artery suppressed release of ghrelin, an appetite-inducing hormone, and prevented weight gain. Researchers are hopeful that this treatment could offer a less invasive alternative to bariatric surgery.

 

"With gastric artery chemical embolization, called GACE, there's no major surgery," lead author Dr. Aravind Arepally, from Johns University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a statement. "In our study in pigs, this procedure produced an effect similar to bariatric surgery by suppressing ghrelin levels and subsequently lowering appetite."

 

In the study, reported in the September 16th online issue of Radiology, five pigs were treated with the artery-ablating compound sodium morrhuate and five were treated with saline. The assigned treatment was delivered via catheter to the gastric arteries under x-ray guidance.

 

In the active treatment group, ghrelin levels at weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4 were significantly reduced relative to baseline values. By contrast, levels in the control group were increased at all points relative to baseline values.

 

At 4 weeks, continued weight gain was still observed in the control group, whereas in the active treatment group weight had stabilized.

 

"With the minimally invasive nature of the GACE procedure, further refinements could provide the ability to deliver a variety of novel agents directly to the gastric fundus that would provide sustained suppression of ghrelin," the authors conclude.

 

Radiology 2008.