According to specialists, the operation would help lower the sugar levels detected in the blood in patients, although it is not the solution for all of them.
ReutersGastric surgery should be offered as a standard treatment option for people with diabetes and could help control their condition for years without medication, said the most important diabetes organizations in the world.
In a joint statement, they said that it constitutes one of the greatest changes in diabetes treatment guidelines since the advent of insulin, the group of 45 said that bariatric, or metabolic surgery could have a significant benefit for thousands of patients.
Francesco Rubin, professor and director of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery at the Kings College in London, and one of the authors of the new guidelines, said that many countries around the world are in the midst of "an epidemic of diabetes."
While surgery would not be adequate for everyone, and should not be seen as a magical solution for the world diabetes problem, Rubino said that patients should be offered a range of options, including lifestyle changes, medicationsand surgery.
"For some, surgery can be the best option," he told journalists at a conference in London.
Type 2 diabetes is a long -term disease that is characterized by insulin resistance.Many patients can control their diabetes with medications and diet, but the disease is often for a lifetime and is an important cause of blindness, renal failure, heart attacks, strokes and amputation of lower limbs.
A recent study by the World Health Organization found that the number of adults with diabetes has quadrupled in the last four decades to 422 million.The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimates that in 2040 that figure will increase to 642 million.
The new guidelines say that the surgery designed to reduce the stomach and induce weight loss should be recommended for the treatment of all diabetic patients whose body mass index (BMI) is 40 or more, regardless of glucose controlIn the blood, as well as those with an BMI of 30 and on those whose blood sugar levels are not being controlled by lifestyle changes or medications.
The guidelines, published in the Diabetes Care magazine, were approved by 45 international organizations, diabetes and researchers specialists, including IDF, the American Diabetes Association, the Chinese Diabetes Society and India Diabetes.
Obesity surgery consists in removing a part of the stomach or the change of route of the small intestine in a Bypass operation.
The guidelines are based on a substantial body of evidence, including 11 random trials, which shows that in most cases surgery can lead to reductions in blood glucose levels below the diagnostic threshold of diabetes type diagnosis2 or a substantial improvement in blood glucose levels.
In many cases, this would lead patients to be able to significantly reduce their diabetes medications.
Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Eli Lilly are the main suppliers of the world of insulin and other diabetes medications.
"Surgery represents a radical change regarding conventional diabetes approaches," Rubino said."These new guidelines effectively introduce (...) one of the most important changes for the care of diabetes in modern times."