Diabetes and Cancer link

cancer risks of diabetes

Mice aren't all the same either!

Turns out we don't even know as much as we thought about mice... and so many are out jumping to conclusions on very little detail in humans. Let's be careful with the knowledge we have - life doesn't have many guarantees.

Not all skinny mice live longer

Liposuction for shaping, not for fat reduction

This is clarifying - we have seen it individually - nice to know that there is a study to validate.

Fat comes back other places after liposuction

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and Infertility Links

We are learning more about the vulnerability of different people to certain diseases. Why some are Diabetic with just modest excess weight is one of the most important.

Fat tissue is an active endocrine organ - making and processing signals that the body uses to regulate energy sensitive tasks, especially. Female and even male fertility are very sensitive to these changes, but not in the same way for everyone.

PCOS and diabetes risk - characterizing the mechanisms

Obesity Action Coalition review article on Infertility

Obesity in pregnancy - Health of the Newborn

Iron deficiency, possible effects and causes

Technology that will make a real difference - comfort and colonoscopy

As someone who has done hundreds of colonoscopies, I am really looking forward to this finding its way into our working endosuites.

As someone who has had 3 colonoscopies, I hope my next one can be done without sedation.

Advanced Colonoscope using fiberoptic nanotechnology

Canadian Outreach Day Plans

Saturday May 21 we are planning an outreach day in the Vancouver area. More to follow as times get set, and invites sent out.

Here is one of the recent Vancouver Sun articles on WLS... 2011 is ticking by.

Access issue in Lower Mainland BC worsens

Call for "Dirty Dozen" Ignoring Evidence for Diabetes, Obesity Access to Care

I have been saving some of these up last few weeks on call - hoping to get PeaceHealth to change its out of date access to care restrictions that are anything but "evidence based" (quote from PeaceHealth Mission Statement)

If you want to send me your organization's absurd restrictions, I will post a "dirty dozen worst plans in Washington State' after the ObesityHelp meeting in Seattle this June.


HERE ARE SOME GREAT EXAMPLES OF THE EVIDENCE TO FOLLOW (just in case any executives happen to read this post)


ASMBS statement for Access to Care


Britain's National Health Service Diabetes Study

Wow! Here's a great quote from a socialized medicine perspective!

Alberic Fiennes, a bariatric surgeon and chairman of the National Bariatric Surgery Registry (NBSR) Data Committee, said the treatment should be made more widely available on the NHS.

"An approach that limits treatment to a fraction of those who would benefit is one which the NHS will rue in years to come as these patients become an unsustainable burden on the health service," he said.

"Prevention strategy alone has proved ineffective; there are at least two generations of morbidly obese patients who are now presenting with diabetes, stroke, heart disease and cancer for whom preventative measures are utterly irrelevant."

International Diabetes Federation Statement

IDF press release


Increased Heart Disease Risk for Teens

Arkansas State Employee coverage

Pregnancy, newborn risks, hysterectomy risks

I am always talking with my OB/Gyn colleagues about preoperative liquid diets like we use for Bariatric surgery to get "room" to work inside the abdomen. Here is data to show that the heavier abdomen is truly a more hostile surgical environment.

If you want to find out more about a 2-4 week high protein, low calorie liquid diet, I will try to post on that with a later edit to this date... or you can call our office 360-752-9888.

Articles from UK

Cancer risks and Diabetes - we can intervene

Here is real opportunity to save lives - forward to your Human Resources or legislator.

Major Increase in Cancer risk for Diabetics

Why everyone has to learn about QALY

This is ridiculous - to not consider the cost of a medication, but then demand that other types of care be subjected to "cost effectiveness" tests... We need a level playing field for what value taxpayers and patients are getting - Quality Adjusted Life Years, or QALY is the way to do that.

Please see the quote from Dr David Flum at University of Washington in the article from day 1 of the NYC Diabetes Conference.

A billion dollars for less than 2 more months of life?

The data is Here... more NYC Summit

Nobel Laureates speaking as keynotes, Swedish long term data

I think we can say definitively that the science is in! There is always more to learn for exact mechanisms, and refining techniques. Insurers and the government may hedge because of perceived costs, but for most individuals the question is answered. Your life and health are better with surgical control of Diabetes and Obesity. To deny this is to simply put money ahead of people...


even the American Heart Association recognizes the benefit

News from NYC Diabetes Summit

Cost effectiveness of surgery for Diabetes

Profound Emotional Suffering - worldwide now

It is inspiring to see a researcher who is so sensitive to the impact of society's dysfunctional judgements. So many of us internalize that incredibly demeaning and disempowering hatred. I guess the only upside is what going through hell can teach you about compassion...

Traditionally tolerant societies showing intolerance, anti-obesity attitudes

Brain response article

There are a lot of related links to older articles on the sidebar, too.

enhanced reward response in vulnerable children with family history of obesity

Science is just beginning to appreciate individual genetic neural and behavioral variability - we are all similar, but not the same!

Mortality of medications

I get asked about the mortality of surgery quite often, but will your diabetes doc tell you the mortality rate of their treatment?

Turns out some meds increase the death rate

excess DEATHS with popular Diabetes meds



Here are some selected quotes from the link----

"431 excess deaths for every 100,000 patients who receive rosiglitazone rather than pioglitazone"

"Given that there are about 3.8 million prescriptions for rosiglitazone dispensed annually in the United States, "the effect on public health may be considerable," they warn."

In an accompanying editorial, Victor Montori and Nilay Shah from the Mayo Clinic in the US argue that the rosiglitazone story "says much about how healthcare has become less about promoting patients' interests, alleviating illness, promoting function and independence, and curing disease, and much more about promoting other interests, including those of the drug industry."

Somebody correct my math - that gives 16,378 deaths from this med....


NOW - if we do the math for DEATH from gastric bypass, that is 0.003, or 3 per thousand. if 3.8 million diabetics all had surgery, the mortality would be 11,400 - BUT the diabetes resolution rate is almost 90%! So at the end of a year (using a conservative 80%) then over 3 million people would be off ALL diabetic meds.

Ouch.

Of course, to get that done, a thousand surgeons would have to operate on almost 400 diabetic patients a year, every year for a decade - which is about double the current rate of bariatric surgery for obesity.

Good update on technology

No magic bullets in the pipeline

This is an article from the New York Times that summarizes the limitations of many promising advanced innovations. What we have is actually pretty great with gastric bypass and related operations, and it will be pretty hard to actually "beat" them in the long term.

Toughest study yet on Gastric Banding problems

This may have some of the limitations pointed out by the Allergan rep, but still, there are more problems with Bands than we were hoping for. While Gastric Bypass has its very real risks, the weight loss and Diabetes control are far superior..

I think the perspective of most surgeons is that the average person greatly overestimates the short term risks, but underestimates the long term consequences of the choice. This doesn't mean "be afraid", it means "be prepared".

self compassion

worth living as your own best friend

This perfectly echos the "take Responsibility, but don't need Blame and Shame" message we have been saying for years

Very nice to see it validated!

Early Diabetic Deaths, US vs Canada

50 year old Diabetic loses 6 YEARS of life expectancy


Certainly different climates, as well as food policy

Obesity Cancer risk - Breast

Health Day article