Weight-loss surgery beats medication for controlling type 2 diabetes in obese people, according to the longest-term trial ever to compare the two approaches. In a long-term study conducted to compare using drugs or surgery along with drugs, half of the patients treated with weight-loss surgery were diabetes-free at five years, said Dr. Francesco Rubino. “The five-year mark is an important mark in many diseases,” said Dr.
Rubino. “The fact that some patients at five years are basically disease-free is a remarkable finding.” In 2009, he and his colleagues randomly assigned 20 obese patients with type 2 diabetes to receive medical treatment, 20 to receive a type of weight-loss surgery called a gastric bypass, and another 20 to undergo a weight-loss operation called a biliopancreatic diversion. Eighty percent of patients who had surgery had their blood sugar under good long-term control,…
