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Vagal Nerve Control of Appetite, Energy, Regulation, and Body Weight

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Global Bariatric Surgery

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic, incurable disease that is also becoming a worldwide epidemic. While conventional bariatric surgical procedures are effective for achieving meaningful weight loss, these procedures are viewed by many candidates as being too dangerous or complicated. The vagus nerve has long been known to have a pivotal role in appetite and weight regulation. Previous studies have suggested that cutting the vagus nerve could result in weight loss. Reversible, programmable vagal blocking with an electrical pulse generator known as vBloc therapy has been shown to be an extremely safe modality that achieves meaningful and sustainable weight loss and improvements in the obesity-associated comorbid conditions. This chapter will review the physiology of the vagus nerve, the vBloc procedure, and the relevant preclinical and clinical studies.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Minimally Invasive Surgical Associates, Dallas, TX, USA

    Sachin Kukreja

  2. EnteroMedics, Roseville, MN, USA

    Mark Knudson, Katherine Tweden & Kelly Aspinwall

  3. Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Scott A. Shikora

Authors
  1. Sachin Kukreja
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  2. Mark Knudson
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  3. Katherine Tweden
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  4. Kelly Aspinwall
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  5. Scott A. Shikora
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Scott A. Shikora .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Rami Lutfi

  2. University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Mariano Palermo

  3. Saint-Pierre University Hospital, European School of Laparoscopic Surgery, Brussels, Belgium

    Guy-Bernard Cadière

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Kukreja, S., Knudson, M., Tweden, K., Aspinwall, K., Shikora, S.A. (2018). Vagal Nerve Control of Appetite, Energy, Regulation, and Body Weight. In: Lutfi, R., Palermo, M., Cadière, GB. (eds) Global Bariatric Surgery . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93545-4_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93545-4_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93544-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93545-4

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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