T_Dia
04-15-2008, 01:11 PM
For 20 million Americans that's the phrase they want to hear. Doctors at Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle say they may be able to let it be heard.
Dr. Mahdu Rangraj and Dr. Leonard Maffucci believe a surgery may send the disease into remission for a fraction of the population with type 2 diabetes, which has taken a huge toll on the nation's health. The surgery, called the duodenal jejunal bypass, can lower the patients' blood sugar to what doctors consider normal levels.
The minimally invasive surgery prevents food from coming in contact with the first part of the small intestine, where some hormones that control blood sugar levels are secreted by redirecting the digestive track . In addition, the whole procedure is reversible.
Patients are taken off most of their diabetic medicines following the surgery, because the sugar levels no longer have to be controlled.
Rangraj and Maffucci have so far performed four of the operations and plan for a fifth on Tuesday. A total of ten people will participate in the study being monitored by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Unfortunately, the surgery is not for everyone. One of the most important prerequisites is that a candidate have an insulin-producing pancreas. The patient must also not be obese. All the volunteers for a clinical trial are screened in detail.
The signs of relief to many diabetic patients may still not come for several years. All the patients who undergo the clinical trials will be monitored for one year. In addition, it will take years of study and research before the procedure may officially be called a 'cure.' Insurance companies may also want to wait even longer before they pony-up for the surgery.
Full Article (http://www.1010wins.com/A-Cure-for-Diabetes--New-Rochelle-Doc-s-Think-So/1994724).
Dr. Mahdu Rangraj and Dr. Leonard Maffucci believe a surgery may send the disease into remission for a fraction of the population with type 2 diabetes, which has taken a huge toll on the nation's health. The surgery, called the duodenal jejunal bypass, can lower the patients' blood sugar to what doctors consider normal levels.
The minimally invasive surgery prevents food from coming in contact with the first part of the small intestine, where some hormones that control blood sugar levels are secreted by redirecting the digestive track . In addition, the whole procedure is reversible.
Patients are taken off most of their diabetic medicines following the surgery, because the sugar levels no longer have to be controlled.
Rangraj and Maffucci have so far performed four of the operations and plan for a fifth on Tuesday. A total of ten people will participate in the study being monitored by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Unfortunately, the surgery is not for everyone. One of the most important prerequisites is that a candidate have an insulin-producing pancreas. The patient must also not be obese. All the volunteers for a clinical trial are screened in detail.
The signs of relief to many diabetic patients may still not come for several years. All the patients who undergo the clinical trials will be monitored for one year. In addition, it will take years of study and research before the procedure may officially be called a 'cure.' Insurance companies may also want to wait even longer before they pony-up for the surgery.
Full Article (http://www.1010wins.com/A-Cure-for-Diabetes--New-Rochelle-Doc-s-Think-So/1994724).