Two methods of weight loss surgery do a better job at treating Type 2 diabetes than standard, non-surgical treatments do, according to a pair of studies published online in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American College of Cardiology's annual meeting this week.

For one of the studies, researchers from Catholic University in Rome tracked 60 obese, diabetic patients aged 30 to 60 years over the course of 2 years. One-third of the patients underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, one-third had biliopancreatic diversion surgery and one-third treated their diabetes with medications and modifications to their lifestyle and diet.

The researchers found that the surgical patients were, within 15 days, able to stop taking diabetes drugs to control their blood sugar levels. What's more, within 2 years, 95% of the biliopancreatic diversion patients and 75% of the Roux-en-Y patients were in remission from the disease. These dramatic outcomes were observed regardless of age, gender, BMI, amount of weight lost or other factors, and were not seen in the non-surgical group.

While study co-author Francesco Rubino, MD, of New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell in New York City admits that 60 patients and a 2-year follow-up is a small study, he also notes the immediate effects. "I think it's clear that while patients getting medicinal therapy did improve somewhat, the chance for patients to achieve robust improvement in diabetes is much greater for those who have surgery than those who are treated with standard medications."

In the other study, Cleveland Clinic researchers followed the cases of 150 Type 2 diabetes patients for a year. Those who underwent weight-loss surgery were more likely to see their blood sugar levels and use of medications decrease than those who pursued traditional therapies.

David Bernard