A number of "metabolic" diseases and conditions are associated with severe or morbid obesity including Type 2 Diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and obstructive sleep apnea. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract and small bowel play critical roles in the regulation of blood sugar levels, fat metabolism, and in the control of appetite and body weight.
Recent data suggest that that operations used to treat morbid obesity diabetes and other metabolic disorders appear to cure these diseases in some patients, not simply by inducing weight loss, but though direct changes to the anatomy. This widely reported development has focused new attention on the treatment of diabetes.
Metabolic Surgery and Type 2 Diabetes
Metabolic surgery can dramatically improve or cure diabetes in some obese patients including a group that does not strictly meet the criteria of morbid obesity. Metabolic surgery can normalize blood glucose levels and allow for a discontinuation of insulin therapy. Curing diabetes through metabolic surgery has been a stunning and welcome development for a disease that has historically been considered chronic and irreversible.
The multidisciplinary bariatric program at UCSF offers individualized treatment plans to patients with diabetes and other metabolic conditions. These treatments include laparoscopic gastric bypass, Lap-Band, and sleeve gastrectomy. Using minimally invasive techniques and small abdominal incisions, patients experience less postoperative pain and scarring, a faster recovery and a more rapid return to normal daily activity.
A study, led by Dr. Guilherme Campos, Director of the Bariatric Surgery Program at UCSF, and discussed in a recent Time Magazine article, pointed to new and more effective pre-operative strategies such as the use of newer anti-diabetes drugs, such as the DPP-IV inhibitors.for diabetic patients undergoing gastric-bypass surgery.