Air-Filled versus Water-Filled Intragastric Balloon: A Comparative Retrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction: The positioning of an intragastric balloon (saline or air filled) has been developed as temporary and reversible therapeutic option for treatment of obesity.The purpose of this study is to compare these two devices in terms of weight reduction parameters and patients'tolerance. The research question of this study was as follows: Is there a difference in the BMI reduction and the rate of premature withdrawal between the two groups of patients? Methods: The participants of this study were patients who gone through gastric balloon procedure. The independent variables included were: the gender, the age, the type of gastric balloon (saline or air), and the initial body mass index (BMI). The established post procedure period was six months from the time of gastric balloon insertion. The outcome variables were the mean BMI loss after six monthsfrom the insertion and the rate of premature withdrawal due to intolerance.Quantitative method was applied using comparative design. A total of 113 patients: group A (87 patients) managed with saline-filled Bioenterics Intragastric Balloon -BIB, and group B (26 patients) managed with air-filled Endobag-Heliosphere Balloon?.Mean initial BMI was ( 37.96; SD6.17 Group A & 34.05; SD 5.89 for Group B) while the mean age ( 32.13;SD 8.71 GroupA & 37.42; SD10.29 for Group B); all of them were followed up in the same clinic with similar dietary instructions.Most of the participants (75.2%) were female.The air balloon was air-filled with 600 ml while the saline- filled balloon was filled with 500 ml of saline and 10 ml of methylene blue. Results: The BMI loss following the saline-filled balloon procedure ( M = 3.73, SD = 3.03) and the airfilled balloon procedure ( M = 1.75, SD = 1,81) with a significant difference (p< .001).Premature removal of the balloon was reported in 16 cases (14 for saline -filled balloon and 2 for air-filled ballon);and all the balloons were removed within one month from the insertion date due to vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain .There was no statistical significant difference in the mean score of withdrawal between the two groups. (p=.21 > .05). Conclusion: patients with saline-filled balloon procedure (M = 4.66, SD = 4.75) tend to lose weight (on average) significantly more than patient with air-filled balloon procedure (p < .001).On the other hand, the difference between the rates of premature withdrawal between the two groups was insignificant (P=0.21).1033_A Figure 1 No Caption available.1033_B Figure 2 No Caption available.1033_C Figure 3 No Caption available.