Can Gastric Banding Surgery Can Cure Diabetes?
"Cure" is a strong word, and one that few doctors are prepared to use. Because patients still need to be routinely evaluated for diabetes related complications, explains Robert Gabbay, MD, Ph.D, the diagnosis of diabetes is not completely removed. That said there is strong evidence that gastric banding, as well as gastric bypass, sends type 2 diabetes into remission.
American Diabetes Association Lap Band Study
Obesity is the leading cause of type 2 diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). If extra weight puts us at risk for diabetes, it stands to reason that decreasing weight would help to mitigate the disease. That theory is born out in a four-year ADA study including 122 obese pre-diabetics. Seventy-three of the participants underwent lap band surgery, and 49 attempted to lose weight through diet and exercise. The surgical group lost substantial weight, maintained the loss and only 1.3 percent of participants developed diabetes. Among the non-surgical group there was no sustained weight loss and 10.2 percent of participants developed diabetes.
Australian Lap Band Study
John Dixon, a researcher at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, followed 60 obese patients with type 2 diabetes for two years. Thirty patients underwent lap band WLS, and 30 went on a diet and exercise program. The WLS patients lost on average 20 percent of their body weight, and diabetes went into remission in 73 percent of the patients. The diet and exercise patients lost an average of 1.7 percent of their body weight, and diabetes went into remission in 13 percent of the patients.
Faster Diabetic Remission with Gastric Bypass?
Dr. Blandine Laferre, an endocrinologist at the Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, noted dramatic---and almost immediate--improvements in diabetes patients after gastric bypass WLS. Diabetes seemed to go into remission before the patients lost weight, and Dr. Laferre wanted to know why. She followed 15 obese women with type 2 diabetes for two years. Seven underwent gastric bypass WLS and eight had no WLS. She tested all the women's levels of incretines, hormones that aid insulin production and are typically low in diabetics, at equal intervals before and after surgery. The women who underwent WLS showed heightened levels of incretines as well as insulin production. This change occurred within 30 days of surgery and was sustained for the two years the women were followed.
Mazatlan Study
The Obesity Clinic of Mazatlan conducted detailed research on 22,000 diabetes patients and later expanded the pool to 135,000. They documented diabetes remission rates of 83 percent, across all bariatric surgery patients. Enthusiastic about their results, the clinic moved on to develop bariatric surgical techniques for non-obese patients.
Warning
Any form of bariatric surgery is a highly serious undertaking. Discuss your situation with your physician and weigh your options carefully.
