Just how desperate are you to lose weight - desperate enough to have electrodes implanted in your brain? That's the latest approach to tackling obesity now being tested.

With experts warning of an obesity epidemic, drugs companies and medics have been working on newer and better ways to tackle weight gain.

Most recently, the focus has been on prescription medicines. There's also been a rise in the use of gastric surgery - literally re-plumbing people's stomachs so that they eat less.

But in the US, the latest approach to tackling obesity is even more drastic. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) involves inserting electrodes into the brain to deliver tiny bursts of electricity to alter the patient's behaviour.

It is already used in the treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and dystonia to block the nerve signals causing the spasms.

With obese patients, the idea is to target the hypothalamus, the area of the brain that controls our desire to eat. It works by making the patient feel full.

The new approach is being tested in a US government-approved trial.

Patients have holes drilled into their skull. The electrodes are then implanted. They are attached to wires, which are fed across the surface of the brain and under the skin to a small battery implanted under the collarbone.

The operation is performed under local anaesthetic so surgeons can place the electrodes in the right place, guided by the patient's reactions. The patient is asked whether or not they feel full to position the electrodes correctly.

Two patients have had the operation, and early indications are promising, with both eating less and losing weight.

The surgery was performed by Dr Donald Whiting, a neurosurgeon at West Virginia University Hospital.

He admitted that it was a drastic procedure - "but obesity is a drastic problem".

He added: "There is a risk of stroke and death from this operation, but this is slight. These patients are probably at greater risk of heart attack and stroke from being obese."

Only patients who've tried every other treatment, including gastric surgery, are considered for DBS.

Whiting pointed out as many as 20 percent of obese people, including those who'd had stomach surgery, failed to keep off any weight they lost.

Carol Poe, 60, was the second person to have the new treatment. She had gastric surgery and had gone from 279kg to 152kg.

In the five months since Poe had the electrodes implanted, she has lost 6.35kg.

Poe said: "I'm delighted with what's happened so far. Now I'm hoping to start losing some serious weight."

But critics argue that DBS is a step too far. Dr David Ashton, one of the UK's leading experts in obesity treatment, said: "Going into the brain carries a degree of risk - such as infection and stroke - and you would question using it to treat obesity when there are less drastic options."

Yet some British experts believe that this approach makes sense. Dr Ian Campbell, of the medical charity Weight Concern, said: "We know that hormones and the hypothalamus play a role in controlling appetite, and so it would be logical to use the brain as a way of treating obesity."

Whiting believes the results from his first two patients more than justify treating more patients with DBS.

And there is no shortage of obese patients willing to volunteer for the trial - six more operations are scheduled in the near future. - Daily Mail