January 8, 2013 – BioSculpture Technology’s licensed patent portfolio is strengthened by the issuance of U.S. Patent 8,348,929 B2 – Method of and Apparatus for Treating Abdominal Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in Human Patients.
2/3 of the U.S. population is overweight and 1/3 is frankly obese. 43% of minorities are overweight today and 43% of the general population isf forecast to be obese in 10 years. As 80% of obese patients develop type 2 Diabetes mellitus which is the leading cause of renal failure and a frequent cause of blindness, obesity is at the core of America’s burgeoning health care cost crisis.
This patent teaches a method and apparatus for endoscopic removal of visceral fat in a minimally invasive procedure that does not involve cutting into the bowel or leaving behind a foreign body. As such it has the potential of replacing gastric restrictive surgeries (Lap Band or gastric sleeve procedures) or intestinal bypass procedures (roux-en-Y) with a less invasive procedure less fraught with potential complications and sequelae. Insulin regulating drugs and hypertensive medication may not be needed as the metabolic syndrome is altered.
Visceral fat is a noxious hormone factory which “latches” the body into an abnormally low metabolic rate, an insulin resistant, hungry condition with inflammatory cytokines promoting heart attacks, strokes, autoimmune diseases and cancers. Removal of small amounts of visceral fat helps the body return to a higher metabolic rate, have lowered insulin resistance, and the patient be less hungry. A “multiplier” effect may follow with the loss of 7-10x as much body fat. And the procedure may be repeated as needed without the risk of creating nutritional cripples.
At the very least this patent paves the way for less invasive alternatives which may supplement current modalities.