Gastric balloon filled with air or liquid, Antalya, Turkey

By using a gastric balloon in conjunction with a

under the supervision of a dietary change, serious health disorders of obesity patients can be significantly reduced and at the same time a new quality of life can be achieved.

The gastric balloon system consists of a soft, stretchable balloon, an insert tube & a filling system.

The balloon can be inserted and removed through the mouth - without surgery or cuts.

If the empty balloon is in the stomach, it is filled with a sterile saline solution.

The filling quantity is individually adapted to the patient and varies between 400 - 700 ml.

The balloon of the system now floats freely in the stomach and partially fills it.

The patient already achieves a feeling of satiety with a much smaller amount of food & from now on takes less food. 

Air-filled or liquid-filled gastric balloon? 

The gastric balloon can be filled with either liquid or air. Some doctors are critical of the air-filled variant for several reasons: on the one hand, a leak in the air-filled gastric balloon is not noticeable so quickly, since the blue coloration of the urine is absent. This also increases the risk of the balloon entering the intestine and thus of intestinal obstruction. It is also possible that the weight reduction of the air-filled balloon is worse, since it weighs only about 30 grams. The liquid-filled gastric balloon, on the other hand, has a net weight of about 450 to 700 grams and thus ensures a faster feeling of satiety.

The disadvantages of the gastric balloon:

The gastric balloon may burst.

The gastric balloon makes the stomach bigger and you can absorb even more food after removing the balloon.

If you want to have a stomach reduction after the gastric balloon,

this is a revision operation and costs accordingly more.

Especially in the first days after the onset, the side effects of a gastric balloon can be significant. Typical are nausea, abdominal cramps and a pronounced feeling of fullness. These complaints settle as soon as the stomach gets used to the foreign body. This is usually the case after about three to seven days. However, even in the long term, some patients complain of a constant feeling of pressure or fullness, belching and heartburn. If the gastric balloon causes permanent problems, it should be removed ahead of time.