type 2 diabetes surgery

Written by Admar Concon Filho

Did you know that bariatric surgery can also be performed by patients with a body mass index (BMI) between 30 kg/m2 and 34.9 kg/m2, who are grade 1 obesity patients? But in these cases, the main goal is not weight loss, but treatment of type 2 diabetes. The surgery, when performed for this purpose, is called metabolic surgery. In practice, this is the same procedure, but since the main goals are different, it is called another method.

There are several types of treatments for type 2 diabetes, ranging from changes in diet to the inclusion of physical activity and the use of medications. And metabolic surgery, which is already approved by the Federal Board of Medicine, is one of them.

Numerous studies, all over the world, have proven that metabolic surgery is very effective in controlling, and sometimes even curing, diabetes. Benefits are often seen in the first few days after surgery. We know that obesity is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes, so when a patient loses weight, there is actually a tendency for the disease to improve. But what we do know is that the metabolic change caused by surgery actually improves diabetes even before significant weight loss.

This is because metabolic surgery causes a change in the hormones associated with obesity and stimulates the production of substances that reduce insulin resistance, in addition to preserving the pancreas, which begins to produce better quality insulin.

Although patients with a lower BMI are approved for bariatric surgery (for bariatric surgery, a BMI of 40 kg/m2 or 35 kg/m2 to 39.9 kg/m2 is required, as long as the patient is associated With obesity), metabolic surgery also follows a series of international standards.

In addition to BMI, the patient must demonstrate unresponsiveness to clinical treatment of diabetes with an endocrinologist and be between 30 and 70 years of age. It is also essential that you have less than ten years of diabetes diagnosis because the pancreas is better preserved and the benefits of surgery are greater. It is still necessary to follow all other international rules required for bariatric surgery, such as monitoring by a multidisciplinary team (psychiatrist/psychiatrist, endocrinologist, nutritionist, cardiologist, etc.).