The study, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is in the October issue of the journal Annals of Surgery.

The study also found that clinical resolution or improvement in diabetes occurred in all patients, but patients with the shortest duration and mildest form of type 2 diabetes had a higher rate of resolution after the surgery. During the study there were no new occurrences or recurrences of type 2 diabetes in 310 patient years of follow-up. Nearly one third of patients permanently discontinued anti-diabetic medications after discharge from the hospital even before significant weight loss could occur.

According to Philip Schauer, M.D., director of bariatric surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, principal investigator in the study and co-director of the Minimally Invasive Surgery Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the study suggests that early surgical intervention is warranted to increase the likelihood of rendering these patients euglycemic.

"Most patients in the study with type 2 diabetes who underwent bypass surgery achieved excellent biochemical glycemic control and were able to reap the clinical benefits of withdrawing from most, if not all, anti-diabetes medications, including insulin," Dr. Schauer said. "Younger diabetes patients with less severe disease stand to gain more from the surgery by circumventing years of progressive, debilitating disease."

The study included 1,160 patients who underwent Roux-en Y gastric bypass surgery (LGBP) between 1997 and 2002 at the University of Pittsburgh Medial Center. Of those patients, 240 had impaired fasting glucose and type 2 diabetes. Follow-up was possible in 190. The mean age at surgery was 48 years and 75 percent of the patients were female.
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Contact: Frank Raczkiewicz
RaczkiewiczFA@upmc.edu
412-647-3555
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
2-Oct-2003