Gastrointestinal surgery as treatment for type 2 diabetes.
OBJECTIVE
As the incidence of type 2 diabetes continues to rise worldwide at epidemic proportions, endeavors to find more effective therapies increase. Gastrointestinal bypass surgery is now gaining awareness as a potential effective and long-term treatment.


RESULTS
There is now a substantial body of evidence supporting the efficacy of gastrointestinal surgery in controlling type 2 diabetes. This is well documented in several studies of obese diabetic patients undergoing gastrointestinal bypass procedures. Additionally, smaller studies and case reports also demonstrate the efficacy of gastrointestinal bypass surgery in nonobese diabetic patients. The pathophysiologic basis of the improvement in diabetes after gastrointestinal bypass surgery is still unclear; however, the dominant hypotheses involve changes in hormone signaling from the small bowel.


CONCLUSIONS
The implications of 'diabetes surgery' are vast, and could dramatically change the face of diabetes as we know it today. In clinical practice surgery could represent an alternative for the treatment of diabetes. On a broader perspective, surgery may facilitate research aimed at understanding the etiology of the disease.
Moo
Tracy-Ann
TA
Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University-New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York 10065, USA.
Rubino
Francesco
F
D000818:Animals; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015390:Gastric Bypass; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D023421:Models, Animal; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D015431:Weight Loss
D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents