Higher chance of diabetes remission seen with gastric bypass than lap banding

Last Updated: 2020-12-09

By Megan Brooks

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients who undergo Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) are more likely to experience long-term diabetes remission than those who have laparoscopic gastric banding (LAGB), new research confirms.

Among 827 obese patients with diabetes who underwent bariatric surgery and were followed for up to seven years, 57% of those who had RYGB achieved diabetes remission compared with 22% who had LAGB, researchers report in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

The seven-year data confirm and extend three-year data for this cohort that showed the likelihood of achieving diabetes remission was about two-fold greater following RYGB than LAGB, they note.

The study also provides evidence of "weight-loss independent benefits on glucose metabolism in those that undergo RYGB, which if better understood could lead to new or novel treatments for diabetes," first author Dr. Jonathan Purnell from Oregon Health and Science Institute in Portland, told Reuters Health by email.

For both procedures, diabetes remission was more common in younger adults and those who had diabetes for a shorter time before the procedure.

"Consistent with similar studies, we find that a patient's chances for achieving remission in their diabetes is greatest when they undergo surgery soon after diagnosis is established and when they need fewer medications," Dr. Purnell commented.

"This is in contrast to current practice, which is often to wait until medical treatment has failed and/or they need multiple medications or insulin to maintain control. Doing so lessens the likelihood that they will have the best outcome of diabetes remission," he added.

SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3geepFC Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, online December 3, 2020.