Doctors aren't quite ready to call weight loss surgery a "cure" for Type 2 diabetes, the most common form. "I would use the term 'remission,' because if people regain the weight, the diabetes will come back," said Dr. Martin Abrahamson, medical director of the Joslin Diabetes Center.
But doctors sure have begun encouraging their patients to get the surgery - for diabetes and a host of other problems. More and more doctors are recommending weight loss surgery to their obese and diabetic patients, and they are beginning to recommend it for less obese people, said Dr. George Blackburn, director of the Center for the Study of Nutrition Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
"We've all been blown away by the effectiveness of weight loss surgery," he said. "The most severe type of obesity, leading to all these horrible diseases - diabetes, heart attack, back pain, cancer - can be treated by this surgery."
Nationally, the number of weight loss operations soared 800 percent between 1998 and 2004, and another 11 percent between 2005 and 2006. Americans get more than 205,000 weight loss surgeries a year, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery - a number which is almost certain to keep climbing.
Research has shown that the surgery is getting far safer as it is performed more often. And more than 30 studies have found it effective for treating diabetes.
In the most recent example, a January study by Australian researchers, 60 obese, diabetic patients were randomly chosen to have laparoscopic adjustable gastric band surgery, a less drastic procedure than what Soto had, or regular treatment, which consisted of counseling on diet and exercise, plus medications, if necessary.
