A review of Apollo Endosurgery’s ORBERA Intragastric Balloon Weight Loss Procedure aired Tuesday on Dr. Oz’s popular healthcare talkshow recently. The segment, which explored how the weight loss device and supporting program aids obese patients in losing weight, marks ORBERA’s continued rise in popularity since its recent FDA approval in the United States.

ORBERA debuted in Europe and Brazil years ago, and has gone on to become a successful, widely-used device for weight loss in individuals who are either ineligible for or uninterested in more invasive bariatric surgery procedures, as the device can be inserted into the body without making an incision or undergoing general anesthesia. The FDA’s approval of the weight loss management system on August 5, 2015 finally made ORBERA available to the American public, and by all accounts has quickly become a popular alternative to bariatric surgery alternatives.

Dr. Oz’s program caters to exploring health and medical issues that affect everyday Americans, and offers his viewers insights and information into healthy living. After exploring Apollo Endosurgery’s other groundbreaking weight loss device, the LAP-BAND, in a two-part series in 2011, his new segment on ORBERA demonstrated how simple yet effective the intragastric balloon concept is in helping people eat less and lose weight.

The segment began by demonstrating how the balloon is placed into the stomach through the mouth through an endoscopic procedure that is so minimally invasive that only mild sedation is required. Once the balloon is in place, it is inflated with saline, expanding it into a spherical shape. To best match both body structure and the needs of the patients, the balloon can be filled with different amounts of saline ranging from 400 to 700 cc.

Guest and weight loss specialist Dr. Michael Snyder noted in an interview with Dr. Oz that since the ORBERA is indicated for obese patients with a BMI of 30-40, the device and weight loss system is applicable not only to morbidly obese patients, but also to those who are closer to the obesity threshold and can get out of the obesity danger zone by dropping 35 to 50 pounds. The doctor went on to explain that he had recently placed the ORBERA in two of his patients with BMIs of 30 and 34, respectively, after they had been unable to lose between 30 and 45 pounds worth of excess weight in the long term using conventional weight loss methods.

Dr. Snyder went on to explain that the ORBERA is only used for a maximum of 6 months, since the balloon is not intended to be used as a permanent weight loss procedure, but rather a short- to medium-term solution to accelerate weight loss and reinforce new eating habits in the patients for long-term, durable success in losing weight and keeping it off.

The segment revealed that perhaps more remarkable than the simplicity in installing the ORBERA is the device’s ability to leave patients feeling full; the inflated balloon, according to Dr. Snyder, leaves patients feeling “Thanksgiving full,” adding, “People wake up and they’re like, ‘I’m full.'” In a study that Dr. Snyder was involved in using ORBERA, participants lose an average of 34.8% of their excess body weight using the system.

Watch the full Dr. Oz segment here.

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