Home    Missions and Scope    Editorial Board     Instructions for Authors    Contact Us

Bariatric Surgery to Correct Morbid Obesity Also Ameliorates Atherosclerosis in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Departments of Internal Medicine, Medical Pharmacology & Physiology and Nutritional Sciences, Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211

*Corresponding author:

Cuihua Zhang, MD, PhD

Phone: 573-882-2427 (O); 573-884-6208 (Lab). 

E-mail address:  ZhangCu@missouri.edu

Abstract

Morbid obesity, a physiological dysfunction in humans associated with environmental, genetic and endocrinological origins, has significantly increased in the past few decades in the USA. Many methods have emerged for treating morbid obesity, such as diets, exercise, behavior modification, liposuction, drugs, and surgery; among these, bariatric surgery reduces weight and appears to have other curative effects. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is the principal form of bariatric surgery, followed by laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, gastric sleeve operation, duodenojejunal bypass and biliopancreatic diversion. This weight-loss surgery may also affect comorbidities of morbid obesity, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), atherosclerosis, hypertension and steatohepatitis. Weight-loss surgery, for example, is associated with a more than 80% diabetes (data indicates > 80%) remission rate in severely obese persons. Empirical evidence also suggests that the use of bariatric surgery reduces atherosclerosis, and may ameliorate other comorbities. This warrants closer examination.

Keywords: bariatric surgery; atherosclerosis; morbid obesity; diabetes mellitus

Download the full article (PDF)