ABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of intragastric balloon therapy on left ventricular function and left ventricular mass in a cohort of morbidly obese patients. A prospective trial was performed in a cohort of 17 class II and class III morbidly obese individuals. The intragastric balloon was retained in the stomach for an average of 6 months. Conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography were performed in all patients before and after the procedure. The mean age of the study participants was 36 +/- 10 years [range: 18-55]. The mean body mass index was significantly decreased following the intragastric balloon insertion procedure [44 +/- 8 vs. 38 +/- 5, p < 0.001]. The left ventricular mass index and left atrial volume index were significantly decreased following the procedure [112 +/- 21 vs. 93 +/- 17, p = 0.001 and 20 +/- 6 vs. 14 +/- 5, p = 0.02, respectfully]. In addition, the ratio of mitral peak early diastolic velocity to tissue Doppler-derived peak diastolic velocity and tissue Doppler echocardiography-derived left ventricular myocardial performance index were decreased significantly following the procedure [9.5 +/- 1.9 vs. 7.7 +/- 1.5, p = 0.002 and 0.57 +/- 0.11 vs. 0.46 +/- 0.06, p= 0.001, respectively].Intragastric balloon therapy resulted in significant weight reduction in morbidly obese patients. This weight reduction was associated with improved left ventricular function