Fancy swallowing a balloon to help you slim down? Veteran weight-loss surgeon Dr Tony Kierath is suggesting you do just that - albeit a specially designed one.
Along with his son Tom Kierath, an engineer and materials chemist, Dr Kierath has developed new technology for "permanent" weight loss which is non-surgical and available from your GP.
![The IG Balloon is swallowed by the patient and stays permanently in the stomach.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171020072735im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/z/3/n/3/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gz3lzl.png/1508315306479.jpg)
"This is the world's first swallowable, non-operative weight-loss device that's designed to be permanent," Dr Kierath said.
Dr Kierath and Tom, the husband and son of Perth's pioneering burns specialist Professor Fiona Wood, developed the technology using his 25 years of experience as a weight loss surgeon.
Speaking to 6PR 882's Simon Beaumont, Tom Kierath said the new technology he and his father have created will give patients more choice and a greater shot at success.
"It stays there permanently, that's really what makes it different from a number of other devices out there on the market at the moment," Dr Kierath said.
"Also it can't overfill and can't deflate which is the key thing when you compare it with other intragastric balloons"
IG Balloon, the first swallowable non operative permanent weight loss device.
— IG Balloon (@IG_Balloon) October 14, 2017
Launching on Indiegogo Nov 14th.https://t.co/2j04WSviFp pic.twitter.com/e6MpLYDolO
Intragastric balloons are not new technology; there are several types on the market which require a gastroenterologist, an anaesthetist, and a specialist nurse to insert, and last three to six months before needing to be removed.
"Where we differ from that is that the IG balloon is delivered by your GP, you go to your GP's practice and within 15 minutes to half an hour you can come out having had to procedure and potentially even go back to work that day," Mr Kierath said.
"The idea is that it stays there permanently and that's what makes it different to a number of other devices out there on the market.
"We realised surgery alone couldn't treat the scale of the problem and there had to be a solution that wasn't as expensive, wasn't as painful and wasn't in a hospital because there just aren't enough operating theatres on the planet to treat everybody that needs this."
After the patient swallows the balloon the internal foam reacts with their body heat and expands in the stomach. It stimulates the stomach lining and slows down digestion to make the patient feel full, longer.
Currently, the procedure to place a gastric balloon would start by sedating the patient in a hospital or out clinic, followed by an endoscopy, then the balloon would be pushed down the oesophagus via the mouth into the stomach, where it is inflated with air or saline water.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than 35% of Australians are now classed as overweight and 27% as obese, and with costs of thousands of dollars traditional surgeries are often unavailable to those who need it.
Dr Kierath is launching an Indigogo campaign on the 14th of November to fund the trials and materials testing necessary before the IG Balloon can hit the market.