Non-inflatable gastric implants and systems

A passive intragastric obesity treatment implant, consisting of:

• a plurality of identically-shaped, non-inflatable members linked in series, each of the members being sized such that it can be easily implanted and removed through the esophagus, and being made of a material that will resist degradation over a period of at least six months within the stomach, wherein the series of members are configured to assume a particular non-straight shape when the series is placed under serial compression;
• and
• a tether configured to apply serial compression to the series of members,
• wherein the non-inflatable members each include a male mating connector and a female mating connector which permits each member to connect with another member.

A passive intragastric obesity treatment implant, comprising:

• a series of non-inflatable members each having a through bore, the members each having a male and a female mating connector which permits each member to connect with another member, each of the members being sized such that it can be easily implanted and removed through the esophagus, the members together capable of taking up volume within the stomach of at least 400 ml and being made of a material that will resist degradation over a period of at least six months within the stomach;
• and
• a tether sized to pass through the through bores of the non-inflatable members, a distal end of the tether attaching to a distal one of the non-inflatable members such that the members can be pulled together by pulling the tether taut to cause the male and female mating connectors to couple, thus forming a relatively solid structure,
• wherein each of the non-inflatable members comprises a spherical body having an opening on one side centered about a radial axis and leading to an internal cavity, and a nipple projecting from another side.