An apparatus and a method for treating a weight disorder in a subject are
provided. The apparatus comprising an implantable device such as an
inflatable balloon and electrodes capable of sensing a physiological
change associated with food ingestion or hunger and a mechanism adapted
for directly stimulating a region such as the duodenum which is
responsive to a gastrointestinal satiety agent, such a mechanism can be a
drug reservoir containing a drug such as CCK or analogs thereof which is
contained within an inflatable balloon being implantable in a stomach of
the subject. The apparatus and method provided here combine synergistic
approaches to limiting meal size, i.e., chemo and mechano receptor
activation of vagal satiety stimuli, electric stimulation of specific
vagal pathways and limitations of gastric space.