Gastric Bypass Can Improve Type 2 Diabetes

A study has found that 97% of patients with type 2 diabetes who underwent gastric bypass surgery for obesity had resolution or improvement of their diabetes. The results were presented at the annual meeting of the American Surgical Association in Washington, DC (USA).

The surgery, known as laparoscopic gastric bypass (LGBP), was performed on 1,150 patients over a five-year period. Of these, 240 patients had type 2 diabetes and 192 of them were available for follow-up. Patients lose weight after LGBP because of a decrease in caloric intake resulting from the reduced reservoir capacity of the small stomach.

In the study, diabetes resolved after an average of 62 days following surgery. In patients who had diabetes for less than five years, the disease resolved in 46 days. In patients who had diabetes for more than 10 years, the disease resolved in 98 days. No patients had progression of their diabetes to a more severe form after surgery.

"Patients with the shortest duration and mildest form of diabetes prior to surgery had quicker resolution and significantly better outcomes, suggesting that early surgical intervention is warranted to increase the likelihood of patients having a normal level of glucose in the blood,” said Dr. Philip Schauer, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (PA, USA), who led the study.





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