Jan 23, 2008 5:50 pm US/Eastern
Study: Obesity Surgery Can Cure Diabetes
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
A new study out of Australia has provided the strongest evidence to date that obesity surgery can cure diabetes.
"It's the best therapy for diabetes that we have today, and it's very low risk," said the study's lead author, Dr. John Dixon of Monash University Medical School in Melbourne, Australia.
Dixon's study found that patients who had surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs were five times more likely to see their diabetes disappear over the next two years than were patients who had standard diabetes care.
In the study, patients had stomach band surgery, a procedure more common in Australia than in the United States, where gastric bypass surgery, is the predominate procedure.
"Gastric bypass is even more effective against diabetes, achieving remission in a matter of days or a month," said Dr. David Cummings, who wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal but was not involved in the study.
"We have traditionally considered diabetes to be a chronic, progressive disease," said Cummings of the University of Washington in Seattle. "But these operations really do represent a realistic hope for curing most patients."
Diabetes experts who read the study said surgery should be considered for some obese patients, but more research is needed to see how long results last and which patients benefit most.
Also surgery risks should be weighed against diabetes drug side effects and the long-term risks of diabetes itself.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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