Obese people to whom doctors generally suggest bariatric surgery today have a new ally to lose extra pounds : approved by the American FDA, the appetite pacemaker will soon arrive in Italy . It is a small device, very similar to the traditional cardiac pacemaker, which will allow fat people to lose weight: the device, produced by EnteroMedics , is a device that will be implanted in the patient’s abdomen, and will proceed by giving intermittent electrical impulses. to the brain, modifying the satiety signal and making those who eat immediately feel full, or making him go hungry. If we felt full to bursting, how much would we indulge in food and how soon would we get up from the table? The trick is this and according to scientists it depends on a nerve stimulus that can be manipulated by the appetite pacemaker without side effects, apart from making us go hungry.
The only drawback: the scalpel. The appetite pacemaker is not subcutaneous, so a minor surgery must still be made for the implant, and obviously the patient will have to follow the same precautions as a patient with a cardiac pacemaker. But compared to the modalities of bariatric surgery, an operation like this still seems like a walk in the park, and could delay or even avoid other more invasive procedures.At the moment, the appetite pacemaker has given encouraging results in human volunteers, and will soon be available for obese patients. Hoping it will be a definitive solution for them.