Tummy Tube and diabetes - preliminary research

[Guest guest]

So far 20 diabetic patients have been fitted with the tube which is inserted

without an operation in just 15 minutes and has been shown to help patients

lose up to a fifth of their body weight. It helps patients with Type 2

diabetes by causing the gut to release a hormone that increases the body's

use of insulin and lowers blood sugar levels. The tube, currently being used

in hospital trials, stays there between six and 12 months before being

removed. By then, doctors believe patients will have improved to the extent

that they no longer need daily insulin injections.

Mr. Alberic Fiennes, a consultant bariatric surgeon at St. 's

Hospital in North Cheam, Surrey, UK, who is performing some of the

procedures, said, " The size of the diabetes and obesity problem is so big

that if this device could help it would have a sizeable impact on the UK

economy. "

Held in place by a tiny spring, the Endobarrier sits in the duodenum -- the

entrance from the stomach to the small intestine -- and also stops fats,

sugar and salts from food being absorbed by the body, restricting calorie

intake.

But doctors say that the main reason it helps weight-loss is that it causes

large amounts of undigested food to reach the small intestine, which results

in an increase of another, appetite-suppressing hormone in the gut.

This is of great benefit to sufferers of Type 2, or adult, diabetes, which

is closely linked to obesity.

However, doctors say the tube, costing about $3100 per patient, could also

eventually be used as a much cheaper and safer alternative to gastric band

or gastric bypass operations, which can cost $4500 and $7500 respectively.

[image: Endobarrier]Such a change could shave ­millions off the cost to the

UK's NHS of obesity surgery, estimated to be 50 million a year.

Forrest, a father of two, was the first patient to be fitted with the

device in the UK trial at Trafford General Hospital in Manchester. The

48-year-old businessman weighed 259lbs, and was diagnosed with Type 2

diabetes three years ago.

He was fitted with the sleeve last month and has already lost 14 pounds, as

well as reducing his diabetes medication by half.

By the end of the six-month trial, doctors expect him to reach 196 pounds

and to be completely independent of diabetes drugs. Mr. Forrest, of

Manchester, said: " The fitting of the device was very easy. When I came

round I could feel where it was in my gut. But now I can't feel a thing. "

Professor Nadey Hakim, who helped fit the device, said: " This treatment is

going to be a lot cheaper than treating kidney complications of diabetes or

even having to carry out a transplant. "

Link

here<http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/articles/diabetes-news/10303-the-tummy-tub\

e-that-may-save-millions>

--

Ortiz, MS, RD

*The FRUGAL Dietitian* <http://www.thefrugaldietitian.com>

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