Patients are trying to lose weight with the help of electrical jolts from stomach pacemakers implanted at Chicago's Northwestern University Medical School.
Doctors have implanted the devices in 190 obese patients to test whether stomach pacemakers, which work like heart pacemakers, can help them lose 25 to 40 percent of their excess weight.
The program also includes changes in diet and exercise and counseling.
"The theory is that the pacemaker sends an electrical signal to the stomach, and most likely the brain, that tells the patients they feel full faster and don't have the appetite they normally have," lead researcher Jay Prystowsky told CBS.
Exactly why the electrical jolt curbs hunger is not yet understood.
The experiment has helped Chicagoan Mary Kempton shed 25 pounds. She does not know if the device implanted in her stomach is a pacemaker or a placebo.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
