Follow up
After balloon placement, patients remained in the recovery room for one
to two hours until complete recovery from sedation and were then
discharge. Instructions were provided for a five-day liquid diet (with
progressive increase in ingested volume). On the sixth day, a semi-solid
diet was prescribed and, after the thirteenth day solids were introduced
into a diet of 1,200-kcal/day. Patients were then referred for
personalized nutritional counseling, when an individual diet was
prescribed with a range of 10-15 kcal/kg/day. All the patients were
followed up by a multidisciplinary team with scheduled medical,
nutritional and psychological appointments at least 15, 30, 60, 90, 120
and 150 days after balloon placement.
In the first three days after balloon insertion, patients were
instructed to use three antiemetic drugs (metoclopramide, ondansetron
and dimenhydrinate), an anti-foaming drug (dimethicone), and
analgesics/antispasmodics (escopolamine plus dypirone, acetaminophen).
All the patients were put on a proton pump inhibitor (pantoprazole
magnesium) throughout the treatment: a double dose in the first month
(80mg) and a full dose from the second month to the end (40mg).
Additionally, vitamin and mineral supplementation and probiotics
(Lactobacillus acidophilus LA 16) were given to all the patients
throughout the treatment.