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Bariatric Surgery: Latest News
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International Diabetes Federation (IDF) announces that bariatric surgery is an appropriate treatment for obese people with Type 2 diabetes
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In a position statement released at the 2nd World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes, the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) announced that bariatric surgery should be considered earlier when treating obese patients with Type 2 diabetes in order to help prevent the serious complications that can result from this disease.
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This statement marks the first instance when the IDF or any major international organization has made recommendations on bariatric surgery for obese diabetics. This statement was drawn up by an IDF taskforce comprising diabetologists, endocrinologists, surgeons and public health experts who met in December 2010.
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In its position statement the IDF states that:
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- There is clear evidence that bariatric surgery is a very effective therapy for obese patients with Type 2 diabetes.
- Various types of surgery on the gastrointestinal tract, originally developed to treat morbid obesity (“bariatric surgery”), constitute powerful options to ameliorate diabetes in severely obese patients, often normalising blood glucose levels, reducing or avoiding the need for medications and providing a potentially cost-effective approach to treating diabetes.
- Surgery was previously considered optional and as such, even in countries with the highest bariatric surgery uptake, less than 2% of eligible patients are treated annually. The IDF recommends that diabetes management algorithms should now define points at which bariatric surgery should be considered and points at which surgery is recommended or prioritized.
- Under the new IDF guidelines, patients with Type 2 diabetes should be prioritized for surgery when:
o BMI > 40
o BMI 35 – 40 and HbA1c > 7.5 despite fully optimized conventional therapy, especially if weight is increasing or other weight responsive comorbidities not achieving targets on conventional therapies
- Patients with Type 2 diabetes are considered eligible for surgery:
o BMI > 35
o BMI 30 – 35 and HbA1c > 7.5 despite fully optimized conventional therapy, especially if weight is increasing or other weight responsive comorbidities not achieving targets on conventional therapies
- In Asian and some other ethnicities of increased risk, BMI action points may be reduced by 2.5kg/m2
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