The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Bariatric surgery `cuts blood sugar level'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 16, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Bariatric surgery `cuts blood sugar level'

Staff Reporter

Among 28 who underwent surgery, five were diabetics

CHENNAI: There has been considerable decrease in blood sugar levels in young obese patients who had bariatric surgery to tackle excess weight problems, claimed J.S. Rajkumar, chairman of Lifeline Hospitals.

Addressing presspersons here recently, Dr. Rajkumar said that it was recently discovered that there was a decrease in blood sugar levels in diabetic patients who underwent surgery for obesity.

The bariatric surgery helped in weight reduction by a combination of reducing the stomach size and preventing the absorption of fat from food.

Among the 28 patients who underwent the surgery at Lifeline hospital in the last five years, five of them were diabetics. While three of them showed marked decrease in medication, two of them were taken off their medication, Dr.Rajkumar claimed.

The average cure rate ranged from 60 per cent to 85 per cent depending on the procedure used. However, such cure through surgery depended on the duration of diabetes in the patient and was applicable only to young, obese and diabetic patients, he said.

He also cited the case of a surgery performed on a 17-year-old girl who was a diabetic.

The cost of the surgery came to Rs.1.5 lakhs.

The Lifeline Hospitals has tied up with M.V.Diabetes Specialities Centre to perform such surgeries, Dr.Rajkumar added.

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