The Reshape Vest is a new device that has been developed for the surgical treatment of obesity.

One of the beauties of the concept is its simplicity – it’s literally a vest that sits around a large part of the stomach. It is designed to restrict stomach capacity but without cutting, stapling or removing any of the stomach – as we would with the sleeve or bypass procedures.

These are similar benefits to the gastric band.

The Vest is in the early stages of development and is being tested in South America. Once those results are published its likely that a test will take place in Europe, and a meeting took place in Germany recently to consider this. The device is being developed by a company called Reshape Life Sciences from the US. They are established in the obesity market and we can be confident they’ll do things properly. They also supply gastric band and gastric balloons.

We expect it will be several years before we have the depth of results we need to compare the Vest to the established procedures. We expect it will need to be compared to the band and the gastric sleeve, both of which are very effective and established procedures.

My personal thoughts are that its unlikely to be more effective than the gastric band. They work in a similar way, by restricting the stomach. The sleeve and bypass are more powerful because we change the balance of proteins in the stomach. The Vest is unlikely to do this. I also worry about how difficult it could be to remove the Vest safely as and when the need arises. These are points we’ll need to monitor closely in any trials that are to come.

We’ll keep you updated through this blog on the Vest’s developments.