SEATTLE, April 12 -- For long-term remission of refractory type 2 diabetes, a surgical procedure akin to gastric bypass has just entered clinical trials in Europe, investigators said here today.In the two patients treated with an ileal interposition technique, there was a normalization of hemoglobin A1c levels within four months of surgery, commented Karen E. Foster-Schubert, M.D., of the University of Washington in Seattle, during a general session on bariatric surgery at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists meeting.
The HbA1c levels reverted to normal (below 7%) despite a modest BMI gain in one patient, and no change in BMI in the other, she said.
The European trials are predicated on the reduction in glucose intolerance and improvement in beta cell function, a so-called diabetes cure, seen frequently after bariatric surgery.
They are attributable to altered metabolic factors that could, in turn be the target of this new type of "diabetes surgery," commented Jeffrey I. Mechanick, M.D., of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
The improvement, or even disappearance, of diabetes is incidental to the bariatric procedure, said Dr. Mechanick in an interview. "For a long time we thought it was attributable to the weight loss or due to the decreased fat."
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AACE/tb1/5429
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