WIRED Staff
Science

Slideshow: Electric Shocks to Fight the Flab

Forget the Jane Fonda workout tape. Soon, excess pounds will be shed using a stomach pacemaker. The device sends out electrical pulses geared to shock the user into feeling full. By Louise Knapp.
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The surgeon makes a 4-centimeter incision just below the patient's left rib cage. A pocket or cavity is created out of the patient's fat tissue -- this will house the stimulator.Courtesy of Transneuronix

See related story: Electric Shocks to Fight the Flab

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The intensity and pattern of electrical pulses can be controlled remotely by using a wand-style programmer held over the stimulator.

Courtesy of Transneuronix
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An internal camera shot. Here the surgeon uses a needle to pull one of the electrodes into position in the patient's gastric wall.

Courtesy of Transneuronix
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Once in place, each electrode is secured to the stomach wall by suturing both sides of the suture sleeve.

Courtesy of Transneuronix
The stimulator about the size of a pocket watch can be programmed to deliver various patterns of electrical pulses.

The stimulator, about the size of a pocket watch, can be programmed to deliver various patterns of electrical pulses.

Courtesy of Transneuronix
Image may contain Clinic Human Person Indoors Room Hospital Operating Theatre Surgery and Doctor

Four tiny punctures are made in the sleeping patient's tummy during the laparoscopic implantation: one for the camera, two operating ports and one for a liver retractor.

Courtesy of Transneuronix