Doctors and researchers at Hartford Hospital have been awarded a grant from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases to conduct a study using neuroimaging predictors to better understand and improve a patient’s long-term weight loss outcomes following bariatric surgery. Dr. Godfrey Pearlson is director of the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center at Hartford Hospital’s Institute of Living.
Q: Tell us about the research you and your team will be conducting.
A: Obesity is an increasing problem in the U.S. and in the developing world. For individuals who are significantly overweight, it has real medical consequences such as arthritis or diabetes. We know that bariatric surgery is a safe way to lose a large amount of weight when other approaches fail.
You might think that bariatric surgery relies purely on “plumbing” and that everyone loses a lot of weight because the stomach is smaller, but that’s not the case. Some people gain the weight back quickly, and at this moment in time, it’s hard to predict before surgery who will do well (and who won’t) after the surgery has been performed.
Right now, nothing you might expect – including prior weight loss, hormone values or previous dieting success — predicts the outcome bariatric surgery.
In a recently completed pilot study, we showed for the first time how people’s brains respond to food cues. We used a functional MRI scanner — and it turned out to be an extremely good predictor of weight loss in one year following the surgery.
Q: What do you hope to discover through the course of this research?
A: We want to see if we can repeat our exciting pilot findings in a large number of new subjects. If we can predict ahead of time who will benefit most and least from the surgery, then some patients may be offered additional counseling or medication treatment upfront to help them benefit as much as possible.
Q: The research being done here is a unique interdisciplinary collaboration between the Institute of Living and bariatric surgeons at Hartford Hospital. It has led to the creation of the Center on Obesity Research. What have you learned as a result of the research this team has been conducting?
A. Hartford HealthCare wisely offered research starter funds to encourage collaboration across different medical disciplines. Bariatric surgeons Dr. Darren Tishler and Dr. Pavlos Papasavas and I joined forces with Hartford HealthCare’s assistance and ran the first 65 patients through our imaging protocol, following them up a year after surgery. This new research grant will allow us to see on a much larger scale whether brain activity prior to surgery will continue to predict surgical success at up to four years post-surgery.
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