Weight loss surgery has proven to be a highly effective treatment for type 2 diabetes in a newly published study, with almost three of the four patients treated surgically showing no evidence of the disease two years later.
Patients who have had gastric surgery lost an average of 20% of their body weight within two years. Which compares with less than 2% over the same period of time in patients who had conventional therapy focused on intensive lifestyle modification programs involving diet and physical activity. Many of the patients were in medicines for diabetes.The study included only 60 patients who have recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes but if the larger investigations confirm the findings, weight loss surgery can prove to be a cure for many people with diabetes, researcher John B. Dixon, MBBs, PhD, Melbourne, Australia University of Monash, WebMD account.
The discoveries appear in the edition of tomorrow from the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"I really think within a few years surgery will become a common procedure for type 2 diabetes," says Dixon.
. (Would you have weight loss surgery to control your diabetes? Share your thoughts on webmd type 2 diabetes support group board.)
60lbs Weight Loss - Weight Loss Surgery Treats Diabetes
. Gastric bands Surgery reduces the size of the stomach to help patients eat less.
Both gastric bands surgery and gastric bypass surgery have demonstrated to be effective for weight loss, but their impact on obesity-related diseases as diabetes have only recently began to be studied.In newly reported research, patients were randomly assigned to receive alaparoscopic adjustable gastricbanding (also known as bands back) or conventional diabetes treatment focused on lifestyle modifications, although diet and exercise.
Patients were diagnosed with diabetes not more than two years before entering the study.Fifty-five patients completed the study and 26 (43%) reached the remission of diabetes in two years.
At the conclusion of the study, 22 of 30 (73%) patients treated surgically did not present evidence of type 2 diabetes, compared to four of 30 (13%) patients in the lifestyle intervention group.
Patients treated surgically lost an average of 62% of their excess weight, compared to an average loss of 4.3% in patients who did not have surgery.
No serious complication occurred in any treatment group. Two of surgical patients required undisturbed surgical substitution of their bands.
It is increasingly clear that early treatment, intensive treatment is associated with best results among patients with type diabetes 2.
Because of this, Dixon says weight loss surgery should no longer be considered a last resort used only in patients who are very obese.
Weight loss surgery is generally not considered for people with body mass indexes (BMI) from below 35, even if they have diabetes or other diseases related to obesity.
To put this prospective number, a 5-foot 8-inch person weighing 230 has an IMC of 35.
"Why should this very secure operation be offered to a diabetic with an IMC of 34 who has fought for years to lose weight?" Dixon asks.
Endocrinologist David E. Cummings, MD, says evidence in favor of weight loss surgery as an early treatment for type 2 diabetes is assembly.
But in an editorial that accompanies the study, Cummings question whether the dramatic results reached by Dixon and his colleagues would be seen in centers with less experience performing weight loss surgery and monitoring less intensive patients.
Cummings is a professor of medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle.
"The surgical team of authors in Melbourne, Australia, is among the most experienced groups in the world ... and their excellent results may not be readily reproducible elsewhere," he notices.
Cummings tells WebMD that the benefits of weight loss surgery as a diabetes treatment seem to extend beyond weight loss alone.
This is illustrated by the fact that blood glucose levels generally normalize in patients who have gastric bypass surgery within days or weeks, long before significant weight loss."I think it's reasonable to conclude that surgery [weight loss] should be offered to more people with diabetes," he says.
But the president of the Association of American Diabetes of Medicine and Science John B. Bise, MD, says patients should not draw from the study that surgery is the only effective treatment for diabetes.
"I have a problem telling people who need to be surgically changed because we can not help them deal with an unhealthy lifestyle in other ways," says WebMD.
Weight loss through diet and exercise works, bise says, but patients rarely receive support they need to succeed.
"The idea that health insurers can pay for surgery, but it is not disturbing," he says.
