The long-term impact of biliopancreatic diversion on glycemic control in the severely obese with type 2 diabetes mellitus in relation to preoperative duration of diabetes.

Background: Bariatric surgery has been shown to be effective in severely obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Objective: Evaluate the long-term efficacy of biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) for the treatment of T2DM depending on the preoperative duration of T2DM.

Setting: University Hospital.

Methods: Retrospective analysis investigating 2 subsets of severely obese patients who had undergone BPD from 1984 to 1995. The first included 52 patients with a preoperative T2DM duration of ~1 year (SD group - 49 on oral agents and 3 on insulin), and the second included 68 patients who had been diabetic for>5 years before BPD (LD group - 52 on oral agents and 16 on insulin). Postoperatively, T2DM was regarded as in remission when fasting serum glucose (FSG) was lower than 100 mg/dL on regular diet and without antidiabetic therapy.

Results: In the SD patients, the number of individuals without T2DM remission were lower both at 5-10 (0/31, 0% of patients, versus 8/54, 15% of patients, p<.04) and at>15 years (1/28, 3% of patients, versus 10/41, 24% of patients, p<.0012). Furthermore, after BPD, the number of patients with dyslipidemia strongly reduced (p<.001) in both groups, values at 5-10 years remaining very similar to those observed at>15 years.

Conclusion: These results indicate that severely obese patients with longer T2DM duration have a worse metabolic outcome maintained at long and very long term following BPD.