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Mumbai : KEM
Hospital Dean Gets US Patent For ‘Stent’ That Aids Weight Loss
Dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh, an interventional radiologist, thought of the device
while fixing narrowed blood vessels around the small intestine.
MUMBAI: Can a device control blood flow in such a way that one loses weight?
The head of one of the country’s most prestigious medical schools, KEM Hospital
in Parel, recently earned a patent for such a concept from the US Patent Office.
Dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh, an interventional radiologist, thought of the device
while fixing narrowed blood vessels around the small intestine.
Cardiologists fix narrowed vessels around the heart and interventional
radiologists are trained to similarly fix vessels in other body parts such as
the brain, lungs, legs and the abdomen, among others, to prevent strokes and
gangrene. “The selfexpanding, blood-flow resisting device we have devised is
about an idea taking shape,” Dr Deshmukh, who has performed thousands of
interventional procedures. said.
“As interventional radiologists, we treat arteries and veins by opening up or
closing them as the situation demands,” he said. What is not well known is that
plaque buildup not only affects the heart vessels but even the vessels in the
abdomen. When the superior mesenteric artery that supplies blood to the small
intestine develops blockages, the patient starts suffering from “abdominal
angina”.
“The patient develops this angina whenever he or she eats. As a result, they
develop fear of food and avoid it, leading to 10 to 20kg weight loss,’’ said Dr
Deshmukh. Medical literature mentions some such patients develop cibophobia,
which is defined as the fear of food.
It is this connection between the blocked mesenteric artery, cibophobia and
weight loss that he, along with Dr Krantikumar Rathod, worked on. “We felt we
can narrow the mesenteric artery in morbidly obese people by introducing a stent-like
device would trigger weight loss,” he said. The narrowed artery induces
cibophobia, which, in turn, leads to weight loss.
The doctors applied for the patent in April, 2016, and got it earlier this
month. The device they designed is 8mm in diameter, shaped like an hour glass,
and is 15-20mm long. “We now have to devise the delivery system, make prototypes
and plan animal studies,” he said. These steps need to be followed before human
trials.
A senior surgeon whom TOI spoke to said deliberately narrowing an artery with a
device could trigger clots. “As morbidly obese people usually have diabetes or
hypertension, introducing such a device needs to be well thought out,” said a
bariatric surgeon who didn’t want to be identified. Another doctor said an idea
that sounds good on paper may not always work in
practice. Dr Deshmukh said the device, cited in the patent document with an
“objective of obesity reduction”, could be used as a bridge treatment before
morbidly obese patients undergo weightreduction bariatric surgery. “It will help
them lose 10-20kg within a few weeks and it can be removed thereafter,’ he
added. The team is also studying its utility in managing cardiac disease.
https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/medicaldevices/mumbai-kem-hospital-dean-gets-us-patent-for-stentthat-aids-weight-loss/84612654
, July 21, 2021
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