AspireAssist™ aspiration device: ©Aspire BariatricsUnder the heading ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ the inventor of the take-a-walk-on-wheels motorized Segway, Dean Kamen, has applied for a patent for a pump that removes a portion of the food you’ve just eaten from your stomach. Partners in this patent are members of a company called Aspire Bariatrics. Here’s a brief description of how the stomach sucker works….
A drainage tube, the AspireAssist™ device, is implanted in a patient’s stomach, which leads to a ‘low profile’ Skin-Port.drainage hole the size of a poker chip on the surface of the abdomen. According to the company, the AspireAssist device, called an A-Tube, can be installed on an out-patient basis and the procedure takes only about 20 minutes under concious sedation – unlike bariatric procedures that require in-patient surgery, general anesthetics, and considerable recovery time.
Once the ‘Aspiration Therapy’ device is installed, the patient can eliminate up to one-third of his stomach contents through the port after about 20 minutes of finishing his meal. The port has a valve that can be opened and closed by the patient – hopefully, it’s not prone to popping up inopertunely.
The process reduces about 30 percent of the calories consumed at each meal, so patients restrict their calories without restricting their intake of the foods they love. Well…. There may be just a few exceptions. According to The Independent, some patients report that the pump clogs up on certain foods, notably Chinese food, certain vegetables, pretzels, and chips. Perhaps Aspirate Bariatrics will unclog these difficulties before getting approval to market AspireAssist in the U.S.
Aspiration Therapy is intended for obese persons and is medically supervised along with recommended lifestyle changes. It is a reversible procedure that is meant to replace stomach bypass surgeries until patients are ready to maintain healthy weight levels on their own.
sources: The Independent, Aspire Bariatrics
