Gastric Banding Surgery May Send Type 2 Diabetes into Remission

January 23, 2008 - A new study by researchers at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, has found gastric banding surgery has a profound impact on diabetes.
The study, published today in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found obese patients with Type 2 diabetes who underwent gastric banding were five times more likely to have their diabetes go into long-term remission, compared with patients who engaged in conventional weight loss therapies, such as a controlled calorie diet and exercise.
The four-year study, which was led by Drs. John Dixon and Paul O'Brien from Monash University's Centre for Obesity Research and Education (CORE), monitored 60 volunteers for two years who underwent significant weight loss of more than 10 percent of their body weight.
Dr. Dixon said of those who underwent gastric banding surgery, 73 percent achieved remission for Type 2 diabetes, compared to just 13 percent of the people who underwent conventional therapy.
"Our study presents strong evidence that obese patients with a Body Mass Index [BMI] greater than 30 with Type 2 diabetes need to lose a significant amount of weight to improve their overall health and glycemic management," Dr. Dixon said.
"Our study shows that gastric banding surgery can assist those patients to achieve this - and with sustained results.
"We found that the amount of weight loss was a key determinant of effectiveness. Most of those losing ten percent of their total weight had remission of the diabetes. Few who lost less did so," said Dr. O’Brien.
Dr. Dixon said the study also found patients who lost substantial weight could not only dramatically reduce their diabetes medications, but also those for controlling blood pressure and lowering blood fats.
"We found that after two years, the surgical group when compared to the conventional therapy group displayed a four times greater reduction in glycated haemoglobin, which can be an indicator of poorly controlled diabetes," Dr. Dixon said.
For more information: www.core.monash.org