Blog
24th Oct, 2019
In the recent 2019 paper published in JAMA, authors from the Cleveland Clinic reported on the care of over 13,000 individuals with type 2 diabetes. And similar to prior randomized controlled trials, and other large matched cohort studies, this carefully designed matched cohort study of diabetes care found large reductions in stoke, heart attack, mortality, and renal failure among patient undergoing metabolic surgery compared to… Read more »
26th Sep, 2019
A look at the published results of the LOOK-AHEAD Trial. The NIH-sponsored LookAhead trial was a randomized controlled trial involving 5,145 individuals comparing an Intensive Lifestyle Intervention (ILI) to a Diabetes Support and Education (DSE) in overweight and obese type 2 diabetes patients to track the development of cardiovascular disease over time. The trial intervention, at a cost of $15 million was stopped for futility… Read more »
29th Aug, 2019
It is now widely known that metabolic surgery provides a profound reduction in type 2 diabetes metrics among obese individuals, with durable published remissions in a high percentage of patients beyond 10 years. Metabolic surgery reverses the type 2 diabetes completely in the first year in most obese individuals, and surgery induces a profound survival advantage, as well as dramatic reductions in blindness, kidney failure… Read more »
26th Jul, 2019
Obese individuals suffer an increased risk of cancer, and an increase in cancer mortality compared to non-obese Americans. Now a large population-based study confirms that cancer incidence drops dramatically after metabolic surgery. Numerous cohort studies have shown metabolic surgery decreases cancer risk. A previous large-scale prospectively matched 10-year surgical intervention trial identified that patients undergoing bariatric surgery had a significantly reduced risk of developing cancer… Read more »
25th Jun, 2019
It turns out that if you are under a non-surgical, medical management program for obesity, you are more than 7 times as likely to develop type 2 diabetes in the coming 7 years than if you were to undergo metabolic surgery. Similar rates of new-onset hypertension and hyperlipidemia occur, as reported in a recent paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association by Norwegian… Read more »
1st May, 2019
Obesity causes pain. A disproportionate number of people with obesity take opioids, and a disproportionate number of obese individuals undergo failed spine surgery. For some, it is a cycle of pain, opioids, depression, surgery, and worsened pain. Researchers asked if metabolic surgery resulted in a significant reduction in chronic pain. Not surprisingly, it did. Here's why weight loss may be the most effective therapy for chronic pain.… Read more »
20th Mar, 2019
A 2018 study involving more than 17,000 patients shows a dramatic reduction in development of nephropathy and kidney failure among individuals with obesity and type 2 diabetes. When compared to standard medical management of obesity, diabetes and renal health, metabolic surgery resulted in a 3 -fold reduction in development of nephropathy over an average of 6 years. Standard medical management of diabetes and obesity has… Read more »
22nd Feb, 2019
Macrovascular disease, including coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular disease, is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among people with type 2 diabetes. And, as the Kaiser Permanente Health Research Institute researchers state in the introduction to this study, medical management, including lifestyle change, may not actually be successful at reducing the risk. In the 2018 Fisher matched cohort study published in the Journal the… Read more »
8th Jan, 2019
Major long-term studies demonstrate diabetes remission after metabolic surgery with the sleeve gastrectomy, a 45-minute laparoscopic procedure. But patients rightly wish to know if that remission translates to meaningful gains in health and quantifiable reductions in end-organ diabetic disease, including renal, ophthalmological, and peripheral neuropathy complications. In the O’Brien matched cohort study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, investigators studied more than 4,000 diabetic… Read more »
5th Dec, 2018
With obesity and Type 2 diabetes continuing to grow as major health problems and causes of early morbidity and mortality, improved studies have examined longer follow-up time periods for diabetes remission after metabolic surgery. Sleeve gastrectomy is a 45-minute laparoscopy procedure. Ten-year studies help paint a picture of the durability of the remission rates for diabetes among individuals who undergo sleeve gastrectomy. Similar to other… Read more »