Clifford Raabe Weiss, MD

Professional Titles

• Director, the Johns Hopkins HHT Center of Excellence
• Medical Director, The Johns Hopkins Center for Bioengineering, Innovation and Design (CBID)
• Director, Interventional Radiology Research
• Director, the Johns Hopkins Vascular Anomalies Center (VAC)

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Radiology and Radiological Science

Background

Centers and Institutes

• Bioengineering, Innovation and Design, Center for
• Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Center
• Vascular and Interventional Radiology
• Vascular Anomalies Center

Clinical Trial Keywords

Obesity; Morbid Obesity; Bariatric Embolization; Bariatric Arterial Embolization; Weight Management; Endovascular Therapy

Clinical Trials Summary

Bariatric Embolization of Arteries for the Treatment of Obesity (BEAT Obesity) Trial 

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of bariatric embolization as a minimally-invasive image-guided procedure for morbid obesity. In this procedure, specific blood vessels to the stomach are blocked in order to suppress some of the body's signals for feeling hungry, leading to weight loss.

Morbid obesity is currently treated with diet and exercise, medications, and surgery. This study is designed to help treat obesity using a minimally invasive, non-surgical, angiographic (through the blood vessel) approach. This procedure is similar to a common procedure used to treat bleeding within the stomach. This version of the procedure has been named "bariatric embolization".

Although there are over 40 hormones that limit food intake, there is only one hormone, ghrelin that has been shown to stimulate (prompt) food intake. In obese patients, eating fails to suppress ghrelin levels, which is believed to prevent feeling full after a meal and to lead to overeating. Due to the strong hunger craving effects of ghrelin, this hormone has been a target for the treatment of obesity and weight loss. More recently, ghrelin has been shown to have a significant role in the long-term effect of weight loss in bariatric (obesity) surgery where ghrelin levels are shown to be much lower when compared to untreated patients.

Recent data collected in animals has shown that blocking blood vessels to a particular portion of the stomach (bariatric embolization) can temporarily decrease levels of the appetite inducing hormone ghrelin, and decrease short-term weight gain. In a study of 5 people, there was a decrease in ghrelin levels and weight loss in the first 6 months after the procedure, but there is no information about the effects of the procedure over longer periods of time.

We hope to learn if bariatric embolization results in safe and effective weight loss in people who are morbidly obese.

Click here to learn more

For Queries: email BEATObesity@jhmi.edu or call 410-502-5118.

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Recent News Articles and Media Coverage

• New Treatment For Obesity Promotes Safely Controlled Weight Loss And Appetite Suppression, Johns Hopkins Medicine, (April, 2019)
• Bariatric Embolization: Are Patients Actually Losing Weight?, Endovascular Today, April 2018.
• National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Grand Rounds: The Evolving Role of the Interventional Radiologist in the Treatment of Obesity, March 7, 2018
• Small incision, big impact: New weight loss surgery being tested, WTOP, (06/15/2016)
• New No-Surgery Weight Loss Procedure Shows Promise, NBC News, (04/05/2016)
• Hunger hormone could be key to weight loss; procedure aims to block it, The Baltimore Sun, (04/03/2016)
• Precision-Targeted Low-Dose Treatment for Large Clots in the Lungs, Johns Hopkins Medicine (05/27/2015)
• An Overview of Vascular Anomalies, Webinar (02/04/2014)
• A Difficult Diagnosis, Johns Hopkins Health (01/01/2014)
• Latest Radiology Treatments for Obesity, Medical News Today (03/29/2012)

Additional Academic Titles

Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests

Development of interventional MRI techniques, Device development, Interventional treatment of obesity (bariatric embolization), The diagnosis and treatment of vascular malformations, including pulmonary AVM's and Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT)

Research Summary

The focus of Dr. Weiss' research is the development of Bariatric Embolization, a new, minimally invasive endovascular approach for the treatment of Obesity. Dr. Weiss is the PI or co-PI on a number of pre clinical grants relating to this work, and is the co-PI of the BEAT Obesity trial.

Dr. Weiss' research has also focused on research related to his clinical practice including the development and implementation Interventional MRI techniques, improving the diagnosis, treatment and outcomes assessment for patients with vascular malformations (including HHT and pulmonary AVM), and the interventional treatment of Pulmonary Ebolism (including IVC filtration).

Dr. Weiss has mentored many Undergraduate and Masters CBID teams, and has advised on the design and development of numerous devices related to Vascular and Interventional Radiology, with a particular focus on vascular access and hemodialysis.  

Dr. Weiss serves as an advisor to the Johns Hopkins Art as Applied to Medicine Program.   Some examples of mentored graduate student work are listed below - please click on the hyperlinks to "experience" the content: 

Embolization of Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformations - An animation by JHU graduate student Caitlin Mock to educate patients on PAVMs. Dr. Weiss served as content advisor for this project.

PubMed - Publications

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/browse/collection/42240738/?sort=date&direction=ascending

Memberships

• American College of Radiology (ACR)
• American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS)
• Association of University Radiologists (AUR)
• International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM)
• International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA)
• Radiology Society of North America (RSNA)
• Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR)
• The Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE)