Bariatric surgery can help control diabetes: medical expert

Chennai:

Bariatric or metabolic surgery or weight loss surgery can help control Type II diabetes, improves cardiovascular risk factors and help reduces mortality, according to an expert.

Addressing reporters here on Wednesday, Dr J S Rajkumar, chairman and chief surgeon of LifeLine Multi-speciality Hospitals, said that Indian doctors are ignoring the importance of bariatric surgery in controlling diabetes.

He says Tamil Nadu is the fourth fattest state next to Punjab, Kerala and Goa and there is nearly 16 million new cases of diabetes in the country every year. The best way to control Type II diabetes, in which the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or can’t process insulin needed to convert sugar and starches to energy, is through bariatric surgery.

For years, physicians focus on treating type 2 diabetes has been to use medication and lifestyle changes to control diabetes. Such conventional therapies were used without any intent to cure diabetes but to achieve control of blood sugar levels. But through the use of bariatric or metabolic surgery – historically used to treat obesity but now used as an intervention for type 2 diabetes – may result in better control of blood sugar, and even in complete remission of the disease.

Interestingly, the surgery is done before a C-Peptide test being conducted by the surgeons. This test helps find whether the person’s pancreas has high or low level of insulin. Interestingly, a person with high level of C-peptide is classified under Type II diabetes. The test also highlights the health of beta cells. If the beta cells function then the surgery could be successful.

During the surgery we try to revive the beta cell through a hormone called called glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1. He says that increasing GLP-1 levels can help increase insulin production to levels where it can control blood sugar, and gastric bypass seems to increase GLP-1 production.

A usual surgery costs around Rs 2.5 lakh, says Dr Rajkumar, who has performed close to 1,000 surgeries in the last 13 years, including one on his own sister. He says in India people are not aware of the treatment and many can’t link surgery to diabetes.