Patients who underwent embolization of the left gastric artery for gastrointestinal bleeding experienced a more than 7% decrease in body weight three months after the procedure, according to a study that will be presented at the upcoming RSNA meeting.
Transarterial embolization is an image-guided procedure during which an obstructive agent is inserted through a catheter and placed inside an artery to prevent blood flow in the artery or to a specific area of the body.
Dr. Rahmi Oklu, PhD, of Harvard Medical School, and colleagues conducted a study in which 14 patients at Massachusetts General Hospital underwent embolization of the left gastric artery, which supplies blood to the part of the stomach where the hormone ghrelin is produced. Ghrelin is understood to stimulate the appetite.
The study also included a review of the records of 18 age-matched control patients who were treated for upper gastrointestinal bleeding with transarterial embolization of a different upper gastrointestinal artery.
Patients who had left gastric artery embolization lost an average of 7.9% of their body weight within three months of the procedure, while weight loss in the control group was 1.2% during the same time frame, the researchers found.
Embolizing the left gastric artery could be a potential bariatric treatment for weight loss and an alternative to other invasive procedures, Oklu and colleagues concluded.
