Orbera is a soft, saline filled silicone balloon that is placed in the stomach for six months. The balloon is designed to partially fill your stomach, giving you a feeling of fullness. In medical terms this is called ‘satiety’. It will not only make you feel less hungry, but feel fuller more quickly after small meals.
And because you will feel more satiated, you should find it easier to make the changes to your diet and lifestyle that will help you keep the weight off once the balloon is removed. Orbera does not involve surgery nor does it require long-term drug therapy. It is placed and removed during a simple 20-30 minute ‘endoscopic’ procedure, during which you will be mildly sedated.
One the balloon is in place, your clinic should be able to provide you with dietary advice and support to help you make the changes to your diet and lifestyle that are necessary to help you achieve your weight loss goals.
How much weight can You expect to lose?
Brazilian Study, 2004 - 323 patients, average weight loss after 6 months: 15kg [1]
Large European Study, 2005 - 2,515 patients, average weight loss after 6 months: 20kg [2]
About the procedure:
You’ll be lightly sedated whilst our physician uses an endoscope to pass a deflated gastric balloon into your stomach. Once in place, it’s injected with saline (salty water) via a small tube. When the tube is withdrawn, the balloon is automatically sealed.
The whole process normally takes around 20-30 minutes. You’ll rest in the clinic for 1-2 hours for observation before being discharged. You can then be taken home. For the first few days, as your stomach adjusts to the balloon, you’ll almost certainly feel uncomfortable. You may well experience nausea, bloating, diarrhoea and cramping. These side-effects are temporary and normal.
Having the balloon removed is very simple. Whilst mildly sedated, an endoscope is used to deflate it before it’s withdrawn. You’ll be home within two or three hours.
Most people need little or no time off work. Important note: A blue dye is normally added to the Saline that is injected into the balloon, so that in the rare event that the balloon were to leak, you would know immediately by the change in colour of your urine. If this were to happen, you should contact your Orbera clinician immediately so the balloon can be safely removed.
[1] Sallet JA, Marchesini JB, Paiva OS et al „Brazilian Multicentre Study of the Intragastric Balloon”. Obesity Surgery 2004; 14:991-998.
[2] Genco A, Bruni T, Doldi SB et al. “BioEnterics Intragastric Balloon: The Italian Experience with 2,515 Patients”. Obesity Surgery 2005; 15:1161-1164.