A harness for a tube for use in patient health care, particularly for naso-enteral feeding. The harness is a thin elongated length of material, preferably cylindrical or tubular, secured to a nasal tube for a distance along the length of the tube and inserted into the patient with the tube. The harness then may be secured about the patient's nasal septum so that the connection between the harness and the tube along the distance is within the patient's nostril.

The intra-gastric weight loss system apparatus and method of the present invention includes an intra-gastric elastomeric rubber balloon with self-sealing fill valve, to be placed and retrieved without surgery. As a benign space-occupying device, it will decrease gastric capacity to the point that saiety (the feeling of fullness) will occur after very little food has been consumed. Thus, the advantages of gastric and intestinal by-pass surgery will be realized, without surgery and the many resulting complications thereof. The elastomeric balloon is inflated with a liquid, preferably a saline solution containing an X-ray contrast media. The balloon is placed in a person's stomach by passing a naso-gastric tube through the mouth. The N-G tube has a previously placed nylon pull string through the lumen and back up the exterior. After this, a metal stylette is run down the lumen to very near the end of the N-G tube. The rolled up balloon with fill tube attached is inserted into a rubber finger cot attached to the pull string. By pulling the string the balloon containing finger cot is drawn down into the stomach. After placement in the stomach the stylette is removed and the balloon is inflated with liquid. Inflation causes the rubber finger cot to roll up and remove itself. Then the fill tube is withdrawn and the pull string with the finger cot attached is withdrawn. The balloon is now free-floating in the person's stomach without any tube attached. Regular check-ups, administration of food supplements, etc., follow thereafter. When the desired weight loss has been achieved the balloon can be easily deflated, and passed in normal fashion, or removed by use of a gastroscope and snaring of an attached withdrawal loop on the balloon.

A stomach insert for treating obesity in humans by reducing the stomach volume comprises a flexible torus-shaped inflatable balloon having a central opening extending therethrough. At least a portion of the balloon has a self-sealing substance to facilitate puncture thereof with a needle for inflating the balloon and sealing of the puncture upon removal of the needle. The method herein comprises positioning the balloon inside the stomach of the person being treated for obesity so as to reduce the stomach volume.

A method and article for medical diagnosis and/or treatment of body disorders, comprising a sleeve unit 10 insertable in a natural body vessel to isolate material flowing into the vessel from direct contact with the interior surface of the vessel. When applied to the treatment of obesity, the sleeve is disposed along a zone in the digestive tract 32 to interfere with the digestive or absorptive function of that zone and thereby reduce net caloric intake.

An intragastric balloon device includes a flexible bladder, a relatively rigid reservoir coupled to the bladder and adapted to hold a bladder inflation fluid, and an inflation/deflation system adapted to move or permit movement of the fluid from the reservoir and into the bladder. The intragastric balloon device is sized such that it may be positioned, in its entirety, into the stomach cavity. Various systems may be used to move or permit movement of the fluid. A control system is provided to automatically activate the inflation/deflation system. The automatic activation may be activated by a combination of one or more of a timer, the temperature of the stomach, the pressure in the stomach, the mechanical stress in the stomach, or another sensed condition, at which the control system is programmed or otherwise configured to activate.