Retrograde gastric pacing reduces food intake and delays gastric emptying in humans: a potential therapy for obesity?

Obesity is one of the most prevalent health problems in the world with a lack of satisfactory therapies and gastric electrical stimulation has recently been proposed for the treatment of obesity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of retrograde gastric pacing (RGP) on food and water intake, and gastric emptying in humans. RGP with a tachygastrial frequency of 9 cycles/min was performed via a pair of submucosal gastric electrodes implanted 5 cm above the pylorus in 12 subjects. The water load test, food intake test and scintigraphic gastric emptying test were performed to assess the efficacy of RGP. RGP resulted in a 13% reduction in the consumption of water, a 16% reduction in food intake and a 15% increase in gastric retention of a solid meal. No significant symptoms were recorded with RGP using the parameters used for the water-load, food intake and scintigraphic gastric emptying tests. Acute RGP at a tachygastrial frequency results in a significant reduction of water and food intake and a delay in gastric emptying without inducing any unacceptable symptoms. It is worthy to explore its therapeutic potential for obesity.