What is diabetes management surgery?

Recently Arun Jaitley underwent a surgery to manage his diabetes, here is what the surgery offers.

India is fast becoming the World capital for diabetes. While things like familial history (hereditary factors) do play a role in the onset of this disease, but other factors like obesity, unhealthy eating habits and other lifestyle factors also make matters worse. Recently Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley underwent a surgery to manage his diabetes. While this did make headlines, the surgery itself is still largely misunderstood. In this post Dr Ramen Goel, leading bariatricsurgeon talks about diabetes management surgery and what you can expect during and after the surgery.

What is a diabetes management surgery?

Diabetes or metabolic surgery is a group of gastro-intestinal surgeries which helps achieve diabetes remission or control. The various types of accepted procedures include Gastric bypass, Bilio-pancreatic diversion(BPD), sleeve gastrectomyand a new procedures include Ileal transposition and mini gastric bypass.

How does it work to reverse or cure diabetes?

Most of these surgeries work through the combination of mechanisms including calorie restriction, hormonal alterations and change in gut flora (organisms present within the gut). The surgery works by a combination of these mechanisms and often shows good results.

Who is the right candidate for this surgery?

Type 2 diabetics whose blood sugar is not well controlled with medication are good candidates for surgery. That being said the outcomes are usually better early diabetics and those who have been on insulin for a shorter duration.

In how much time will a person be able to see results?

Usually, in selected patients insulin is discontinued after three to seven days of surgery while oral medicines are stopped after two to three months.

What are the pre and post-operative precautions a person will have to take?

There are no specific precautions required except that blood sugar should be well controlled. Post surgery precautions include avoidance of calorie dense food and exercising regularly.

You may also like to read:

• Surgery for weight loss or bariatric surgery get your facts right!
• Metabolic surgery for diabetes can it really reverse the disease?
• Bariatric surgery nothing cosmetic about this weight loss procedure

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