# Brazil leads pioneering research on diabetes



## circe (Mar 14, 2009)

Brazil leads pioneering researches on diabetes

Two surgical techniques developed in Brazil intend to innovate the treatment of Diabetes Mellitus Type 2. One of the works, world pioneer in patients, has been carried out for five years, now, in the city of Goi?nia (State of Goi?s), by Dr. ?ureo Ludovico de Paula. Initial data were recently published in the Journal Surgical Endoscopy, the official vehicle of the publications of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), under the title of “Laparoscopic treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in patients with BMI below 35”.

The paper shows the disease control rates, with no medication whatsoever, in approximately 90% of the cases. Patients were users of oral hypoglycemic drugs and insulin. 

Almost 250 patients have already undergone a technique known as the Neuroendocrine Brake. The method consists in the interposition of a segment of the ileum, which is the third and last part of the small intestine, to an area closer to the stomach. In this way, the production of incretins, the hormone that stimulates the production of insulin is increased. The next action forecasted is the replication of this work in the United States, at the Mount Sinai Medical Center .

Another method was developed in S?o Paulo by Dr. Ricardo Cohen. It is called Duodenal Exclusion, and avoids food to get in touch with the first portion of the small intestine, the duodenum, that sends immediately a signal to the pancreas, stimulating secretion of insulin and improving diabetes. “We have had a zero mortality rate with 50 non-obese patients and approximately 11% of minor complications, which is reasonable in digestive surgeries”, states Cohen.


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