Bariatric Surgery versus Conventional Medical Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes

New England Journal of Medicine:  Geltrude Mingrone, M.D., Simona Panunzi, Ph.D., Andrea De Gaetano, M.D., Ph.D., Caterina Guidone, M.D., Amerigo Iaconelli, M.D., Laura Leccesi, M.D., Giuseppe Nanni, M.D., Alfons Pomp, M.D., Marco Castagneto, M.D., Giovanni Ghirlanda, M.D., and Francesco Rubino, M.D., March 26, 2012.

In this single-center, nonblinded, randomized, controlled trial, 60 patients between the ages of 30 and 60 years with a body-mass index (BMI, the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters) of 35 or more, a history of at least 5 years of diabetes, and a glycated hemoglobin level of 7.0% or more were randomly assigned to receive conventional medical therapy or undergo either gastric bypass or biliopancreatic diversion. The primary end point was the rate of diabetes remission at 2 years (defined as a fasting glucose level of <100 mg per deciliter [5.6 mmol per liter] and a glycated hemoglobin level of <6.5% in the absence of pharmacologic therapy). Read More