Background
Bariatric surgery offers morbidly obese individuals an accepted weight loss and reduction in obesity-related comorbidities when other conservative treatments have failed. Many types of operative procedures for morbid obesity have been popularized over the past three decades, and they are continuously evolving. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) gained popularity over the past few years with a promising effect on improvement of diabetes mellitus (DM) in diabetic patients.
Aim
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of LSG on glucose tolerance in morbid obese diabetic patients and to correlate these changes with clinical improvement according to glucose tolerance test, glycated hemoglobin, fasting blood glucose, and 2-h postprandial blood glucose at time of 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively.
Patients and methods
This study included 30 patients with morbid obesity associated with type 2 DM. All patients were evaluated for change in glucose tolerance after LSG and follow-up of these patients at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively.
Results
The current study showed improvement of DM in 24 (80%) patients and six (20%) patients had no improvement. Among the patients who improved, 21 (70%) patients showed complete remission of diabetes (patients stopped medication) and three (10%) patients were controlled by oral hypoglycemic drugs (patients decreased medication).
Conclusion
The preliminary results for 1-year follow-up are promising with good control of DM after sleeve gastrectomy. Further long-term follow-up is needed to ensure efficacy of sleeve gastrectomy on type 2 DM control over a longer time.