by Dr. Yogesh Gautam
Dec 30, 2018

Diabetes is a chronic condition and its treatment involves lifelong diet and lifestyle modifications and pharmacotherapy (oral hypoglycemic drugs and insulin) that intensifies with the increase in the duration of disease. Even then meting adequate glycemic control is difficult and patient may sooner or later end up with  heart, kidney and eye complications .

Metabolic surgery for diabetes is emerging as a life saver for diabetes patients. Metabolic surgery for diabetes helps in control or resolution of diabetes. Patients report improvement in blood glucose levels and reduction in the number of medications and doses of insulin within months after the metabolic surgery for diabetes. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy surgery was originally developed as a weight reduction procedure for obesity. In Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy surgery 70-80% of the stomach is removed leaving a narrow tube.

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy surgery not only facilitates weight loss but also improves glycemic control among young, newly diagnosed patients. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy surgery is now considered also as a metabolic surgery for diabetes in obese Diabetics as along with the restrictive element it also brings about certain metabolic and hormonal changes which causes weight loss and improvement in diabetes.

Mini gastric bypass surgery is another metabolic surgery for diabetes.  In mini gastric bypass surgery gastric a pouch is created which is joined to the intestines, similar to gastric bypass but mini gastric bypass surgery has fewer complications and at the same time its impact on obesity and associated co-morbidities is similar. For normal weight persons with diabetes we have options, such as Dudeno Jeunal bypass and Ileal transposition, though these people should initially be treated with medications.