Objective: To describe, in the form of a descriptive approach, bibliographic theoretical considerations about obesity and the benefits derived from the use of intragastric balloon (BIG). Method: A literature review with cataloging of scientific papers, collected in Medline, clinical studies, with full texts, published in the last 5 years, carried out in Humans. Results: We identified 16 studies that addressed the use of BIG in the treatment of obesity. Some studies report results of interest secondary to the present review and were excluded. However, most of these studies presented data of paramount importance on all behavior of the procedure and important results, so that they could be combined to generate comparisons between the interventions tested by the authors of the primary studies. Conclusion: It is concluded that BIG is safe and effective as an adjuvant treatment of obesity.