Remission of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic patients after gastric bypass surgery or exenatide therapy.

BACKGROUND: Gastric bypass surgery and exenatide therapy represent two relatively new methods in treating morbid obesity and type 2 diabetes, although there are many differences between them. With the data supported from our hospital, we just want to investigate the differences between bypass surgery and exenatide injection and want to answer the question: Which one is the best? And Why? METHODS: Data from January 2009 to January 2010 were summarized for comparison at Shengjing hospital, including weight loss, plasma glucose and insulin changes, glycosylated hemoglobin, and the subjective scores of patients themselves. Plasma lipoprotein and serum ions were measured to evaluate the nutrition status. RESULTS: Patients in the GB group received more weight loss and better glucose control compared with the EX group. At 6 months, feeding insulin level in the GB group was 18.1 ± 3.2 mU/L, which was much lower than that in the EX group (64.5 ± 13.2 mU/L, P < 0.01). The Hb1AC level in the GR group was 6.08 ± 0.56 %, much lower than that in the EX group (7.19 ± 0.72 %, P < 0.01). We did not find any statistical differences in lipoprotein, plasma ions, and subjective scores between the GB and EX groups. CONCLUSIONS: Gastric bypass surgery is better in weight control and in the remission of insulin resistance compared with exenatide therapy. Both methods were safe and have no nutritional disorder in early stage, although the transferring in the GB group was higher than the EX group. The subjective scores from both groups declared that both methods could be accepted by patients.