Intragastric Balloon as a Noninvasive Method for Obesity Treatment: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

The incidence of obesity is increasing globally, with approximately 1 in 3 adults either overweight or obese. Surgery provides the most effective treatment for advanced obesity; however, endoscopic treatment, including intragastric balloon therapy, is commonly used in patients who do not meet the indications for surgery. Our study aimed to evaluate short- and mid-term weight changes of patients who had intragastric balloon therapy.

In this single-center retrospective study, we enrolled 320 patients with body mass index (BMI) values between 30 and 40 kg/m2 and without comorbidities, who underwent intragastric balloon treatment. 284 patients successfully underwent the operation. All patients were followed-up at 6 months after treatment, balloons were removed, and BMIs were recorded. Further follow-up was performed 6 months after balloon removal, and patients' BMI and demographic data were recorded again.

Overall, 320 patients were enrolled in this study. In this cohort, 82 returned to their preprocedural weight at 1 year postprocedure, whereas 260 had BMI lower than the preprocedural values, but higher than the values at 6 months postprocedure. None of the patients had lower BMI compared to their 6-month postprocedural values.

Balloon therapy typically helps patients lose 10% of body weight. Intragastric balloons are effective when used as weight loss tools, but are ineffective at maintaining weight loss. An intragastric device placed for 6 months may also be expected to help the patients develop better eating habits; however, we did not encounter this lifestyle change in our series.