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Case Report
A case report of severe gastric erosions, ulceration, and bleeding following intragastric balloon placement for weight loss
1 Hunter New England Local Health District, Tamworth Hospital, Tamworth, NSW, Australia
2 University of Newcastle, School of Medicine and Public Health, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
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Meena Kothwal Patel
Unaccredited General Surgery Registrar, Department of General Surgery, Tamworth Base Hospital, 31 Dean Street, Tamworth, NSW 2340,
Australia
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Article ID: 100171Z12MP2026
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How to cite this article
Patel MK, Jawanda M, Srinivasan R. A case report of severe gastric erosions, ulceration, and bleeding following intragastric balloon placement for weight loss. J Case Rep Images Surg 2026;12(2):5–9.ABSTRACT
Intragastric balloon (IGB) therapy has been increasingly used as minimally invasive procedure for obesity management, offering short-term weight loss benefits with a favorable safety profile. However, serious complications such as gastric erosions and upper gastrointestinal (UGI) bleeding, though rare, can occur and require urgent intervention. We report a rare case of severe UGI bleeding in a 36-year-old female following IGB insertion for weight loss. She presented to the emergency department with symptoms of upper gastrointestinal bleed and significant anemia (hemoglobin 68 g/L) ten days post-intragastric balloon insertion at private hospital in Sydney. Computed tomography imaging confirmed an intact gastric balloon without signs of gastric perforation. Emergency gastroscopy and early balloon removal were done without complication. Also, multiple gastric erosions were seen on the first gastroscopy. Despite initial stabilization, the patient had recurrent bleeding, necessitating two additional endoscopies to achieve hemostasis. This case highlights a rare but serious complication of IGB therapy. Delayed presentation contributed to the severity of bleeding. Intragastric balloon-related complications underscore the importance of careful patient selection, prophylactic proton pump inhibitor use, timely symptom recognition, and close post-procedure monitoring. Though IGBs are generally safe, clinicians must remain vigilant for rare but serious adverse events like UGI bleeding.
Keywords: Bariatric complications, Early endoscopic removal, Gastric erosions, Intragastric balloon, Upper gastrointestinal bleeding
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Author Contributions
Meena Kothwal Patel - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Manvek Jawanda - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Rajkumar Srinivasan - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
AcknowledgmentsDr. Qiuye Cheng, Bariatric Surgeon in Sydney, has done initial intragastric balloon insertion.
Thank you, Dr. Cheng, for valuable input during patient care.
Artificial intelligence (AI) use in the article:
Microsoft Copilot was used to assist with language editing of the manuscript. The tool was not used to generate any data in the article. All AI-generated suggestions were reviewed and approved by the authors. All content remains the authors’ original work, and the authors take full responsibility for the final manuscript.
The corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of SupportNone
Consent StatementWritten informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this article.
Data AvailabilityAll relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Conflict of InterestAuthors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright© 2026 Meena Kothwal Patel et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.
