CHARLOTTE -- Carolinas Medical Center has performed a first of its kind procedure in the United States to help the obese and those suffering from type two diabetes, as part of a national study.The procedure is similar to a gastric bypass, but doesn’t require surgery."There's currently about 15-million Americans who are categorized as morbidly obese,” said Chief of Bariatric Surgery at CMC Keith Gersin.Gersin said 90-95 percent of other methods to lose weight fail, a reason why this new procedure opens up new opportunities for these patients."We'd like to think of it as more effective than current medications for the treatment of obesity and less invasive than surgery," said Gersin.Gersin was the first to install the Endobarrier Gastrointestinal Liner in the country.
"This is again performed endoscopically with a device that goes down the esophagus into the stomach where the device is deployed. The theory is food goes on the inside of this endobarrier. The digestive enzymes are on the outside of the endobarrier and the food and digestive enzymes don't mix until two feet further down stream in the smaller bowel.”
While it is similar to the gastric bypass, it’s not a replacement for those who need the surgery just yet.
"For now, it's not instead of, it's prior too gastric bypass. Whether or not this becomes a procedure instead of gastric bypass remains to be seen," said Gersin.At 2-3 months, the average weight loss is 20-30 pounds.The news is potentially even better for diabetes patients."This is a very novel technique. I think so far early on there's a lot to be excited about both in terms of the ability for patients to lose weight and the diabetes data showing the remission of diabetes. It's very exciting," said Gersin.The procedure takes about a half hour.As part of the clinical trial, patients need to be in the pipeline for the gastric bypass surgery. During this test trial, CMC will be one of only three facilities in the U.S. performing the procedure.
