Digestive Endoscopy Unit, Agostino Gemelli University Hospital, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma, Italy.
Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2011 Dec;5(6):689-701. doi: 10.1586/egh.11.77.
Obesity is a worldwide epidemic, complex metabolic disease associated with a variety of severe comorbidities. Bariatric surgery provides the patients with the benefits of sustained weight loss and improves obesity-related comorbidities, but can result in potentially life-threatening complications. Gastrointestinal endoscopy has recently been proposed as a scarless and noninvasive approach to obesity. Most of the current endoluminal devices and techniques are comparable to restrictive surgery. A variety of medical devices and procedures have been evaluated in recent years; however, with the exception of the intragastric balloon, evaluation of all the other endoluminal procedures is limited by the numbers of patients treated, the short follow-up and especially by the study design. Today, only a few devices have been evaluated in randomized controlled trials. The preliminary results of the first studies are extremely promising, but definitive statements cannot be drawn yet.
肥胖是一种全球性的流行病，是一种复杂的代谢性疾病，与多种严重的合并症有关。减重手术为患者带来持续减重的益处，并改善肥胖相关的合并症，但也可能导致潜在的危及生命的并发症。胃肠内窥镜检查最近被提出作为一种无疤痕和非侵入性的肥胖治疗方法。目前大多数的内镜设备和技术与限制性手术相当。近年来，已经评估了多种医疗设备和程序；然而，除了胃内球囊外，所有其他内镜手术的评估都受到治疗患者数量、随访时间短以及研究设计的限制。目前，只有少数设备经过了随机对照试验的评估。首批研究的初步结果非常有希望，但还不能得出明确的结论。
