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The newest procedure that is available to patients in the United States is the intragastric balloon. There are various types of balloons, but this is one of them. This is a saline filled balloon and the outside is made out of silicone. What we do is we place this inside of a patient’s stomach when it’s empty and we begin inflating it with fluid and once it’s fully inflated, we pull on the tube (which gets disconnected from the balloon) and the balloon stays inside of the patient’s stomach. The idea behind this device is that it takes up space within the stomach, so you can’t eat a lot of food. It also has weight to it. 600 cc’s of fluid does have some heft to it, so it also feels like you have eaten a large meal. Therefore most patients have a sense of fullness within their stomach and in the end, you end up eating less and losing weight.
