Bariatric Surgery Considered Effective for Type 2 Diabetes Patients

Bariatric surgery Overview:

The bariatric surgery is an operation on the stomach and/or the intestines such that it helps extremely obese patients to lose weight. The bariatric surgery is a great option for people who are unable to lose weight with diet or exercises or for people suffering from serious medical conditions due to obesity.

Bariatric surgery and type 2 diabetes:

Traditionally, the diabetes is viewed as a chronic, relentless diseases. The major treatment goal for diabetes is the delay of the end-organ complications. The bariatric surgery offers a novel end point of either providing a major improvement or complete disease remission.

NEWS! Bariatric surgery considered effective for type 2 diabetic patients:

A recent study published in the JAMA Surgery Journal, states that the bariatric surgery is more effective in treating the type 2 diabetes compared to the lifestyle changes.

The study author general surgeon at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Anita P. Courcoulas said that bariatric surgery with two years of low-level lifestyle resulted in diabetes remission among the obese and diabetic participants than with lifestyle interventions alone.

The study was conducted on two groups of diabetes patients in the age range of 25 to 55 by Courcoulas and her colleagues. The first group was treated with bariatric surgery while the second group was treated with traditional lifestyle changes.

After the completion of three year trial, Courcoulas and her team found that one-third of people who were treated with obesity surgery shows signs of remission. Meanwhile, the second group didn’t show any remission (the disappearance of decrease in some or all the symptoms of the disease). An important thing to observe is that there is a durability of remission over the time.

The type 2 diabetes is characterized by the high blood sugar in the context of insulin resistance and lack of relative insulin. Around 285 million people are diagnosed with the type 2 disease in the year 2014. It is the dysfunction of the pancreas that stops or slows down the production of insulin required to control the glucose level in the blood stream. The absence of insulin results into blood sugar becoming uncontrollable.

Obesity is a major factor in diabetes and the patients who are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are recommended to lose weight. Most people who successfully lose weight with surgery are more likely to slow or stop the diabetes.

As per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 9% of the US population are suffering from diabetes. It also stated that more than 30% of patients are not aware if they have the condition or not.

Courcoulas has also stressed that they require to carry out more such trials and also wishes to study the current case for a longer time period. This will enable her team to see what the remissions will look like in five years.

Patients with the shortest duration and mildest form of type 2 diabetes and the weight loss surgery were more probable to achieve the complete resolution of type 2 diabetes. The risk of developing diabetes was three times lower for surgically treated patients for ten years. The recovery rates from the diabetes for patients who had undergone the bariatric surgery is three times greater. The anti-diabetic effect of the weight loss surgery is quite long lasting. The clinical trial is enough evidence to state that the bariatric surgery may reduce the mortality in the patients suffering from type 2 diabetes.

However, Dr. Osama Hamdy cautioned both the patients and the doctors to not get overly excited about the results. Dr. Hamdy, the medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center Obesity Clinical Program, pointed that only a few people in the surgery group had resolution of their diabetes. So people should weigh the benefits, risks and complications before undergoing the bariatric surgery for treating type 2 diabetes.

All in all, the conventional bariatric procedures are used worldwide for treating the type 2 diabetes in relation with the obesity. This surgery is performed by surgeons among the less obese or merely the overweight patients.

References: