Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty achieves significantly greater weight loss than that of a high-intensity diet and lifestyle therapy program, according to a study published in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.
In the retrospective case-matched study, 105 patients who underwent endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, in combination with a low-intensity diet and lifestyle therapy, were compared with 281 patients who participated in a high-intensity diet and lifestyle therapy program.
“As ESG [endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty] continues to gain traction worldwide, a comprehensive understanding of its outcomes and relative place among the battery of weight loss treatments is important,” wrote Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD, of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, and coauthors, noting that only two studies have compared endoscopic sleeve gastroscopy with another weight loss therapy.
The high-intensity program involved patients being prescribed a low-calorie, high-protein diet of 800-1,200 calories a day, and taking part in behavioral, nutritional, and exercise counseling as well as optional support from psychotherapy, support groups, and meal replacements.
The study found that patients who underwent the gastroplasty lost significantly greater mean percentage of body weight compared with those who participated in the therapy program.
At 1 month, mean percentage body weight loss was 9.3% in the gastroplasty group compared with 7% in the therapy group. At 3 months it was 14% compared with 11.3%, at 6 months it was 17.7% compared with 14.7%, and at 12 months it was 20.6% compared with 14.3%. Significantly more patients in the gastroplasty group reached 5%, 10%, and 20% weight loss compared with the therapy group.
The authors noted that high-intensity diet and lifestyle therapy programs had “notoriously” high rates of noncompliance and withdrawal from treatment; adherence rates of 63.1% and 59.6% had been seen in previous observational studies.
“Therefore, ESG may be a valuable alternative for patients who have had trouble adhering to HIDLT [high-intensity diet and lifestyle therapy],” they wrote. “Given the diversity of the obese population, ESG may begin to fill some gaps in the obesity treatment arsenal.”