Go under the knife to lose weight and cure diabetes

The best management of type 2 diabetes in obese people is not elusive anymore. Doctors in the city have successfully treated diabetes in obese individuals by wielding their scalpel and removing excess fat of the patients.

Sixty-five-year-old Vijayalakshmi was suffering from hypertension and diabetes mellitus for over 10 years and bronchial asthma for 15 years. Her blood sugar levels were fluctuating despite being administered oral hypoglycemic and insulin injections. Poor control of hypertension also threatened to worsen the situation. Morbidly obese, she had a body mass index (BMI) of 41.2 as against a normal adult human body’s BMI of 20-25.

A laparoscopic bypass procedure with Roux-en-Y Anastomosis was performed on her under general anesthesia at Fortis Hospital.3 months after the surgery, she has now lost 25kgs,her BMI has come down to 32 and her blood sugar is completely normal. She does not take any medication for hypertension, but has only one oral hypoglycemic every day.

Talking about the treatment of diabetes and obesity at press conference on Thursday, Dr Shabeer Ahmed, consultant surgical gastroenterologist and minimal access surgeon, said, ‘‘The continuing mortality in person with diabetes is a sign that the answer to best management for type 2 diabetes for maximizing metabolic control is still elusive. Given this scenario, the option of stomach intervention needs to be considered in appropriately selected individuals. Laparoscopic gastric bypass procedure was considered as the treatment of choice for her as she had obesity with diabetes mellitus.”

It has been estimated that the risk of developing Type2 diabetes increase 93-fold in women and 42-fold in men who are severely obese rather than of healthy weight, Dr Ahmed pointed out.

43 year old Reshmi Begum, who was suffering from diabetic mellitus for 15 years, approached the hospital in April. She also had hypertension and ischemic hear disease for which she had under gone coronary artery bypass graft in 2010.During her evaluation process it was found that her blood sugar levels varied between 25-493 for which she was taking 70 units of insulin daily. She was obese and her BMI was 45(Height 155cms/weight 110kg).
After consolation, she was advised to undergo laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery to address her diabetes and obesity. Her diabetes is now completely under control and she has lost about 32kg of weight.