August 29, 2014 – Previous History

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Anchor lead:  A strategy to stop blood flow to the stomach and treat obesity is well-founded in other treatments, Elizabeth Tracey reports

BEAT Obesity is a clinical trial underway at Johns Hopkins to stop blood flow to an area of the stomach that produces hormones important in appetite and eating behavior.  Clifford Weiss, principal investigator of the trial and an interventional radiologist, says while the application is new, the technique is not.

Weiss:  Embolization is a really common interventional radiology procedure. Not only is it used if someone came in bleeding, but we also use it for cancer treatment or for fibroids.  These are patients with solid muscle tumors that are benign in their uterus, and we actually embolize the arteries that feed those.  So embolization is a bread and butter technique, a standard technique for interventional radiology.  When I talk to a patient about what I do I say I either close blood vessels or I open blood vessels.  This is a way we close blood vessels.       :27

Previous work in animal models has shown that embolization of the arteries that supply this part of the stomach is safe.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.