INTRAGASTRIC BALLOON

It is an inflatable silicone device, which is introduced by endoscopy through the mouth and left in the stomach, once there it is inflated to produce gastric restriction and the patient reaches an early satiety.

Advantages: Minimally invasive, outpatient procedure.

Disadvantages: It can only be left around 6 months before extracting it can migrate to the small intestine and produce obstruction in some cases. Basically it is indicated in the superobesus patient with many diseases that would not support surgery, so when putting the intragastric balloon, it is expected to lose weight, and reduce their risks, in a few months to operate it definitively with either a gastric sleeve, or a gastric bypass.