Amelioration of Type 2 Diabetes using Gastric Bypass vs. Sleeve Surgery.

A recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine describes a randomized trial comparing two types of bariatric surgery with intensive medical treatment with respect to reducing or eliminating T2DM (Type 2 Diabetes).

One hundred thirty-four patients were randomly assigned to receive either Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, sleeve gastrectomy, or intensive medical interventions.

The participants were followed for 5 years, and the primary endpoint was determining the level of glycated hemoglobin (also called hemoglobin or HGB A1C). HGA!C is a way of estimating the amount of glucose in the blood over time: higher levels suggest that diabetes management is ineffective, with too many high values. Diabetic individuals are counseled to try to keep this number at or below 7 percent — in the current study, the goal was a glycated hemoglobin of 6 percent or less. At the beginning of the study, the average HGB A1C was over 9 percent.

By the 5 year time point, at least some of the patients in each group had achieved that goal, with more of the surgical patients doing so than the medical intervention patients. Only five percent of the medical patient group reached A HG A1C OF 6 percent, compared to 29 percent of those receiving gastric bypass and 23 percent of those with sleeve gastrectomies — both these decreases were significantly greater than those seen in the medical intervention group.

http://acsh.org/news/2017/02/16/bariatric-surgery-more-effective-long-term-medical-treatment-t2-diabetes-10872