Bariatric Arterial Embolization Safe, Effective in Patients With Severe Obesity

TUESDAY, April 2, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Bariatric arterial embolization (BAE) is feasible, effective, and well tolerated among patients with severe obesity, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology, held from March 23 to 28 in Salt Lake City.

Adham Khalil, M.D., from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and colleagues evaluated the safety and efficacy of BAE in patients with obesity using novel, customized, tightly calibrated 100 to 200 µm radiopaque embolic microspheres “BTG-001933” (Boston Scientific). The analysis included 10 adults (aged 21 to 70 years) with body mass index ≥35 kg/m² and weight ≤400 lb.

The researchers reported that the left gastric artery (10) was embolized with or without the gastroepiploic artery (six) with a 100 percent technical success rate. There were no major adverse events, but minor adverse events included a healing mucosal ulcer at three-month endoscopy and a vascular access site pseudoaneurysm (unrelated). At baseline, three months, and six months, weight-to-muscle volume ratios were 10.3, 10.0, and 9.2 kg/L (R_rm = 0.89), respectively.

“BAE using tightly calibrated 100 to 200 µm radiopaque microspheres “BTG-001933″ is feasible and appears to be well tolerated by patients with severe obesity with weight loss outcomes demonstrating higher efficacy compared to other embolic agents used in previous studies,” the authors write.

Abstract

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