Bracelet treats heartburn

(AP):

A tiny magnetic bracelet implanted at the base of the throat is greatly improving life for some people with chronic heartburn who need more help than medicine can give them.

It's a novel way to treat severe acid reflux, which plagues millions of Americans and can raise their risk for more serious health problems.

It happens when a weak muscle doesn't close after swallowing as it should. That lets stomach juices splash back into the throat. Drugs like Nexium and Prilosec reduce acid. But they don't fix the underlying problem, called GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Rodd Foster had it so bad he used to sleep sitting up to keep his dinner down. Tricia Carr worried she would develop complications like the one that killed her mother.

Both Californians got help from the new device, approved a year ago by the federal Food and Drug Administration and also sold in Europe.

The treatment was "life-changing," said Foster, a 61-year-old plumbing contractor from Canyon Country, Calif. "It's been 30 years since I've been able to eat normally and now I can eat anything anytime."

The Linx device, made by Torax Medical Inc, of St Paul, Minn, is a ring of titanium beads with magnets inside. Doctors place it around the weak muscle at the base of the oesophagus in a half-hour operation using a scope and 'keyhole' incisions in the belly. The ring reinforces the weak muscle to keep it closed, yet is flexible and expands to let food pass when someone swallows. The ring comes in multiple sizes; it is about a half-inch in diametre and expands to about 1.5 inches. People don't feel it once it is implanted.