The Effects of Bariatric Surgery on Renal, Neurological, and Ophthalmic Complications in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: the Taiwan Diabesity Study.

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery has been shown to improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, less is known whether it can also reduce diabetic renal, neurological, and ophthalmic complications. METHODS: This prospective multicenter cohort study compared renal, ophthalmic, and neurological complications between 49 patients with obesity/overweight receiving bariatric surgery and 338 patients receiving standard medical treatment after follow-up for 2 years. Patients received neurological examinations including toe tuning fork vibration test, ankle tendon reflex test, 10-g monofilament test, and ophthalmic examinations including visual acuity measurement and fundus examinations. Multiple regressions, propensity score weighting, and matching were employed to adjust for baseline differences. RESULTS: After 2 years of follow-up, patients with type 2 diabetes receiving bariatric surgery had greater reduction in BMI, HbA1c, and urine albumin-creatinine ratio, greater improvement in estimated glomerular filtration rate, and greater increase in tuning fork test score of right and left toes compared with the medical group. However, there is no improvement in 10 g-monofilament test, visual acuity, diabetic non-proliferative retinopathy, and proliferative retinopathy. Similar results were obtained using multiple regression adjustment, propensity-score weighting, or comparing age-, sex-, and BMI-matched subjects. CONCLUSIONS: After 2-year follow-up, patients with obesity/overweight and type 2 diabetes receiving bariatric surgery have increased glomerular filtration rate, reduced albuminuria, and improved tuning folk vibration sensation.

Proximal Jejunal Bypass Improves the Outcome of Gastric Clip in Patients with Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic gastric clip (GC), a novel pure restrictive procedure, is a safe and effective treatment for morbid obesity. However, whether adding a proximal jejunal bypass (PJB) to this procedure might increase the efficacy is unknown. METHODS: Outcomes of 74 (43 women and 31male) obese patients who had undergone PJB-GC (41) or GC (33) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) with 1 year follow-up were assessed. GC consists of creating a transverse gastric partition with a metallic clip. PJB consists of a jejuno-ileostomy between 20 and 320 cm distal to the ligament of Treitz. Postoperative body mass index (BMI) reduction, total weight loss (TWL), and remission rates of T2D were evaluated. RESULTS: The preoperative clinical characters in both groups were similar. The mean operative time was significantly longer in the PJB-GC group than in the GC group. At 24 months after surgery, the BMI was lower (32.5 ± 6.2 vs. 37.0 ± 5.9 kg/m2, p = 0.002) and weight loss higher in PJB-GC than GC (TWL 31.3 ± 14.8 vs. 23.5 ± 10.4%, p = 0.011). Remission of T2D was greater in the PJB-GC group (90.2 vs. 57.2%; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, PJB-GC was superior to GC in weight loss and T2D remission at 1 and 2 years after surgery. Adding PJB to GC increased the effect of weight loss and diabetic control.

Study design and recruitment for a prospective controlled study of diabesity: Taiwan Diabesity Study.

BACKGROUND: Strong evidence has shown that metabolic surgery is more effective than medical treatment in the treatment of type 2 diabetic patients. However, no study demonstrated a survival benefit and reduction of diabetes-related end-organ damage. Here, we describe the study design of a large prospective cohort study, the Taiwan Diabesity Study (TDS) which would compare the long-term survival rate and end-organ damage between overweight/obese type 2 diabetic patients receiving metabolic surgery and medical treatment. METHODS: Eligibility criteria include type 2 diabetic patients with duration > 6 months, body mass index (BMI) over 25 kg/m2 and age between 20 and 67 years. Exclusion criteria are serum creatinine over 2.0 mg/dL, C-peptide below 1.0 ng/ml, recent history of cancer, and major diabetic complications. Eligible participants were recruited from six medical centers in Taiwan. The survival rate and diabetes-related end organ damage will be compared between the metabolic surgery group and medical group after follow-up for 10 years. RESULTS: In 3 years, 1016 participants were identified from 38,751 patients. The average BMI of patients was 30.6 (±2.6) kg/m2 and the average hemoglobin A1c was 8.2% (±1.5%) with 18% of them receiving insulin treatment. Among them, 126 patients received metabolic surgery and 890 patients received conventional medical treatment. The metabolic surgery group are younger, have a higher proportion of females, higher BMI and blood lipids as compared to the medical group. CONCLUSION: The TDS recruited 1016 overweight/obese type 2 diabetic patients including 126 patients receiving metabolic surgery and 890 patients receiving medical treatment.

Brain structural networks and connectomes: the brain-obesity interface and its impact on mental health.

PURPOSE: Obesity is a complex and multifactorial disease identified as a global epidemic. Convergent evidence indicates that obesity differentially influences patients with neuropsychiatric disorders providing a basis for hypothesizing that obesity alters brain structure and function associated with the brain's propensity toward disturbances in mood and cognition. Herein, we characterize alterations in brain structures and networks among obese subjects (ie, body mass index [BMI] ≥30 kg/m2) when compared with non-obese controls. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We obtained noninvasive diffusion tensor imaging and generalized q-sampling imaging scans of 20 obese subjects (BMI=37.9±5.2 SD) and 30 non-obese controls (BMI=22.6±3.4 SD). Graph theoretical analysis and network-based statistical analysis were performed to assess structural and functional differences between groups. We additionally assessed for correlations between diffusion indices, BMI, and anxiety and depressive symptom severity (ie, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale total score). RESULTS: The diffusion indices of the posterior limb of the internal capsule, corona radiata, and superior longitudinal fasciculus were significantly lower among obese subjects when compared with controls. Moreover, obese subjects were more likely to report anxiety and depressive symptoms. There were fewer structural network connections observed in obese subjects compared with non-obese controls. Topological measures of clustering coefficient (C), local efficiency (Elocal), global efficiency (Eglobal), and transitivity were significantly lower among obese subjects. Similarly, three sub-networks were identified to have decreased structural connectivity among frontal-temporal regions in obese subjects compared with non-obese controls. CONCLUSION: We extend knowledge further by delineating structural interconnectivity alterations within and across brain regions that are adversely affected in individuals who are obese.

Neural correlates of executive functions in patients with obesity.

Obesity is one of the most challenging problems in human health and is recognized as an important risk factor for many chronic diseases. It remains unclear how the neural systems (e.g., the mesolimbic "reward" and the prefrontal "control" neural systems) are correlated with patients' executive function (EF), conceptualized as the integration of "cool" EF and "hot" EF. "Cool" EF refers to relatively abstract, non-affective operations such as inhibitory control and mental flexibility. "Hot" EF refers to motivationally significant affective operations such as affective decision-making. We tried to find the correlation between structural and functional neuroimaging indices and EF in obese patients. The study population comprised seventeen patients with obesity (seven males and 10 females, BMI = 37.99 ± 5.40, age = 31.82 ± 8.75 year-old) preparing to undergo bariatric surgery. We used noninvasive diffusion tensor imaging, generalized q-sampling imaging, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural correlations between structural and functional neuroimaging indices and EF performances in patients with obesity. We reported that many brain areas are correlated to the patients' EF performances. More interestingly, some correlations may implicate the possible associations of EF and the incentive motivational effects of food. The neural correlation between the left precuneus and middle occipital gyrus and inhibitory control may suggest that patients with a better ability to detect appetitive food may have worse inhibitory control. Also, the neural correlation between the superior frontal blade and affective decision-making may suggest that patients' affective decision-making may be associated with the incentive motivational effects of food. Our results provide evidence suggesting neural correlates of EF in patients with obesity.

Correlation between brain circuit segregation and obesity.

Obesity is a major public health problem. Herein, we aim to identify the correlation between brain circuit segregation and obesity using multimodal functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques and analysis. Twenty obese patients (BMI=37.66±5.07) and 30 healthy controls (BMI=22.64±3.45) were compared using neuroimaging and assessed for symptoms of anxiety and depression using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). All participants underwent resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) and T1-weighted imaging using a 1.5T MRI. Multimodal MRI techniques and analyses were used to assess obese patients, including the functional connectivity (FC), amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), graph theoretical analysis (GTA), and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Correlations between brain circuit segregation and obesity were also calculated. In the VBM, obese patients showed altered gray matter volumes in the amygdala, thalamus and putamen. In the FC, the obesity group showed increased functional connectivity in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex and decreased functional connectivity in the frontal gyrus of default mode network. The obesity group also exhibited altered ALFF and ReHo in the prefrontal cortex and precuneus. In the GTA, the obese patients showed a significant decrease in local segregation and a significant increase in global integration, suggesting a shift toward randomization in their functional networks. Our results may provide additional evidence for potential structural and functional imaging markers for clinical diagnosis and future research, and they may improve our understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of obesity.

Gastric clipping for morbid obesity: the initial results of a clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: We inaugurated a clinical trial using laparoscopic gastric clipping to treat morbid obesity patients. We report the 2-year results. DESIGN: Ten patients with morbid obesity underwent laparoscopic gastric clipping to promote weight loss. A novel metallic clip was applied to the outside wall of the upper fundus of the stomach by a laparoscopic technique. The clip allowed a restricted passage of meals through a mucosa tunnel 0.4-0.6 cm in diameter. MEASUREMENTS: The body weight and feeding status of the patients were monitored periodically. Barium meal studies at 1 day and 2 years after the clipping were compared. RESULTS: Ten patients (3 men, 7 women) with body weight of 117 +/- 18.2 kg (101.8-156.5) and body mass index (BMI) 43.4 +/- 5.2 (40-56) were included. The gastric clips were successfully applied laparoscopically in all patients. The operation time ranged from 65 to 210 minutes and showed a learning curve. The excess body weight loss was progressive and long lasting postoperatively. The mean BMI and percentage of excess body weight loss at the 2-year period was 32.01 +/- 4.89 kg/m(2) and 64.4%, respectively. The mean BMI 2 years after surgery was significantly decreased compared with that before surgery. Barium meal studies did not show significant sliding or migration of the clips at 2-year follow-up. No mortality or late complications occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that laparoscopic gastric clipping is a safe, simple, and effective treatment for patients with morbid obesity.