Gastric Botulinum Toxin-A Application for Weight Loss Therapy

Background/Aims: The aim of this study is to share the results of gastric botulinum toxin (BTX) application in individuals who are overweight or type 1 obese without comorbidity.

Materials and Methods: In this study, 13 patients were included who were enrolled for gastric BTX application for the first time. A total of 300 U of BTX-A (Allergan Botox ®1 vial 100 U) was diluted with 8 mL of 0.9% NaCl saline, and antrum (100 U to 8 spots), corpus (100 U to 8 spots), and fundus (100 U to 8 spots) regions were injected intramuscularly. Patients were given a 1200-calorie low-carb diet and this was followed for 6 months. 

Results: Gastric BTX application was applied to 13 patients with a mean age of 40.9 ± 5.2 (85% female), a mean body mass index (BMI) of 28.41 ± 1.4 kg/m2 (26-31.6) and a mean excess weight of 10.1 ± 3.6 kg. As a result of the 6-month follow-up, only four patients (30.8%) were able to lose more than 50% of their excess weight (6-15 kg). Six patients (46.2%) could not lose any weight. There was an average decrease of 3.3 kg in the weight of patients before and after BTX application (P = .03). A mean decrease of BMI was detected, 1.17 kg/m2 (P = .032). 

Conclusion: It was concluded that the application of gastric BTX for weight loss does not provide effective results.

Cite this article as: Şen O, Gökhan Türkçapar A. Gastric botulinum toxin-A application for weight loss therapy. Turk J Gastroenterol. 2021; 32(1): 66-69.