Type 2 Diabetes Treatment And Bariatric Surgery

Many previous studies stated that bariatric surgery is as safe as lots of other normal surgeries, however recently two other major studies have found it to be helpful in delaying diabetes for a long period.

About 58,000 patients incorporated in Bariatric Outcome Longitudinal Database (BOLD), biggest depositary of medical info on people who have taken the weight-loss surgery, were analyzed by the researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

The research stated just about 10% of patients had complications and this result was put forward at the yearly meet of ASMBS or American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, in Grapevine, Texas. In fact, the widespread complaint by patients was only vomiting, although the analysis is not yet over. Even the mortality rate was reported to be less than almost 1%.

Dr. Eric J. DeMaria, the lead study author, vice chair of department of surgery, Duke, also mentioned that the analysis supported bariatric surgery as the best safe and valuable treatment method for the people facing morbid obesity. This type of obesity is usually defined as body mass index (BMI) above 40, or a body mass index within 35 to 40 along with other obesity-associated issues like type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea or heart disease, according to measures claimed by the United States National Institutes of Health.

Another study also presented at ASMBS stated that weight-loss surgeries can be helpful in long-term cure of diabetes. The study from University of Virginia Commonwealth analyzed 177 patients who were morbidly obese and suffering from type 2 diabetes who also took the most usual weight-loss process called gastric bypass surgery between 1993 and the year 2003.

This study reported that almost 90% of patients got back to the normal blood sugar levels in the first year after surgery. About 60% of patients did not have diabetes issues till five to 16 years. The patients that got back to diabetes were the severe cases of insulin dependent during surgery. Nearly 75% of the patients who are able to manage the disease through proper diet and oral medications during the time of the surgery remained free from diabetes, compare to about 30% for those who depend on insulin.

Senior author Dr. James W. Maher, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor of surgery, mentioned that the earlier these patients were brought to gastric bypass and soon the cases of diabetes were referred, the better were the chances of controlling diabetes.

A different study concentrated on gastric banding, which is one of the most usual weight-loss procedures. The study which took place at NY University School of Medicine tested on 95 patients who were treated by laparoscopic gastric banding between Jan 2002 and Jan 2004. In this study, ratio of patients on oral diabetes medication was 88% and 15% were insulin dependent. Result from the study showed that, after 5 years nearly 40% of patients were cure and 43% had good.