Newswise —
A first-of-its-kind consensus statement on diabetes surgery is published online today in the Annals of Surgery. The report illustrates the findings of the first international consensus conference — Diabetes Surgery Summit (DSS) — where an international group of more than 50 scientific and medical experts agreed on a set of evidence-based guidelines and definitions that are meant to guide the use and study of gastrointestinal surgery to treat type 2 diabetes. The document is considered to be the foundation of diabetes surgery as a medical discipline of its own.
The Diabetes Surgery Summit was held at the Catholic University of Rome, Italy. Several notable organizations attended, including the American Diabetes Association. A draft of the DSS consensus statement was critically reviewed during the 1st World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes.
The article on Neswise summarizes the findings. The key finding centers on the use of bariatric surgery for more patients than just the severally or morbidly obese. That’s defined as BMI of 35 or greater.
… experimental studies demonstrated that gastric bypass surgery can improve type 2 diabetes through direct anti-diabetic mechanisms and not solely as a result of weight loss, a finding that has been corroborated by other researchers with both experimental and human investigations.
This is an exciting find. Previously surgery was thought to help only via the weight loss resulting from it.
A specific recommendation of the Diabetes Surgery Summit called for the establishment of a multidisciplinary, international taskforce that includes endocrinologists, surgeons, clinical and basic investigators and bioethicists, among others.
This task force will work with other agencies to expand and increase evidenced based knowledge of diabetes surgery.
The article has plenty more details. Several organizations have already endorsed the consensus. For me, this is a huge development. I’m at risk of type 2 diabetes as are members of my immediate family.
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Tags: diabetes, Diabetes mellitus type 2, Diseases & Conditions, health, Medicine, morbid, morbidly, obese, summit, surgery, treatment
