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Type 2 Diabetes is a condition in which the body either does not produce enough insulin or does not make efficient use of it. Insulin is a hormone needed to convert food into glucose, a sugar that the body uses for energy. Without enough insulin, glucose can accumulate in the blood, and can cause serious health problems such as heart disease and strokes and organ damage...
The tummy tube that fools obese into feeling full... and may save NHS millions
By Sophie Borland
Last updated at 12:22 AM on 1st January 2011
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A new treatment for obesity and diabetes could save the NHS enough money to have a sizeable impact on the UK economy, a surgeon claims.
So far 20 diabetic patients have been fitted with an Endobarrier a plastic tube inserted down the throat and through the stomach that tricks the body into feeling full.
The tube is inserted without an operation in just 15 minutes and has been shown to help patients lose up to a fifth of their body weight.
It helps patients with Type 2 diabetes by causing the gut to release a hormone that increases the bodys use of insulin and lowers blood sugar levels.
Diet device: The 2ft long plastic Endobarrie that's inserted into the stomach via the mouth and combats obesity and diabetes
The tube, currently being used in hospital trials, stays there between six and 12 months before being removed. By then, doctors believe patients will have improved to the extent that they no longer need daily insulin injections.
Mr Alberic Fiennes, a consultant bariatric surgeon at St Anthonys Hospital in North Cheam, Surrey, who is performing some of the procedures, said: The size of the diabetes and obesity problem is so big that if this device could help it would have a sizeable impact on the UK economy.
Held in place by a tiny spring, the Endobarrier sits in the duodenum the entrance from the stomach to the small intestine and also stops fats, sugar and salts from food being absorbed by the body, restricting calorie intake.
More...
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But doctors say that the main reason it helps weight-loss is that it causes large amounts of undigested food to reach the small intestine, which results in an increase of another, appetite-suppressing hormone in the gut.
This is of great benefit to sufferers of Type 2, or adult, diabetes, which is closely linked to obesity.
However, doctors say the tube, costing about 2,000 per patient, could also eventually be used as a much cheaper and safer alternative to gastric band or gastric bypass operations, which can cost 7,000 and 12,000 respectively.
Such a change could shave millions off the cost to the NHS of obesity surgery, estimated to be 32million a year.
Jamie Forrest, a father of two, was the first patient to be fitted with the device in the UK trial at Trafford General Hospital in Manchester. The 48-year-old businessman weighed 18 and a half stone, and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years ago.
He was fitted with the sleeve last month and has already lost one stone, as well as reducing his diabetes medication by half.
By the end of the six-month trial doctors expect him to reach 14st and to be completely independent of diabetes drugs. Mr Forrest, of Manchester, said: The fitting of the device was very easy. When I came round I could feel where it was in my gut. But now I cant feel a thing.
Professor Nadey Hakim, who helped fit the device, said: This treatment is going to be a lot cheaper than treating kidney complications of diabetes or even having to carry out a transplant.
By Sophie Borland
Last updated at 12:22 AM on 1st January 2011
Comments (0)
Add to My Stories
A new treatment for obesity and diabetes could save the NHS enough money to have a sizeable impact on the UK economy, a surgeon claims.
So far 20 diabetic patients have been fitted with an Endobarrier a plastic tube inserted down the throat and through the stomach that tricks the body into feeling full.
The tube is inserted without an operation in just 15 minutes and has been shown to help patients lose up to a fifth of their body weight.
It helps patients with Type 2 diabetes by causing the gut to release a hormone that increases the bodys use of insulin and lowers blood sugar levels.
Diet device: The 2ft long plastic Endobarrie that's inserted into the stomach via the mouth and combats obesity and diabetes
The tube, currently being used in hospital trials, stays there between six and 12 months before being removed. By then, doctors believe patients will have improved to the extent that they no longer need daily insulin injections.
Mr Alberic Fiennes, a consultant bariatric surgeon at St Anthonys Hospital in North Cheam, Surrey, who is performing some of the procedures, said: The size of the diabetes and obesity problem is so big that if this device could help it would have a sizeable impact on the UK economy.
Held in place by a tiny spring, the Endobarrier sits in the duodenum the entrance from the stomach to the small intestine and also stops fats, sugar and salts from food being absorbed by the body, restricting calorie intake.
More...
Civil servant shamed into losing 22 stone after being forced to buy TWO aeroplane seats
But doctors say that the main reason it helps weight-loss is that it causes large amounts of undigested food to reach the small intestine, which results in an increase of another, appetite-suppressing hormone in the gut.
This is of great benefit to sufferers of Type 2, or adult, diabetes, which is closely linked to obesity.
However, doctors say the tube, costing about 2,000 per patient, could also eventually be used as a much cheaper and safer alternative to gastric band or gastric bypass operations, which can cost 7,000 and 12,000 respectively.
Such a change could shave millions off the cost to the NHS of obesity surgery, estimated to be 32million a year.
Jamie Forrest, a father of two, was the first patient to be fitted with the device in the UK trial at Trafford General Hospital in Manchester. The 48-year-old businessman weighed 18 and a half stone, and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years ago.
He was fitted with the sleeve last month and has already lost one stone, as well as reducing his diabetes medication by half.
By the end of the six-month trial doctors expect him to reach 14st and to be completely independent of diabetes drugs. Mr Forrest, of Manchester, said: The fitting of the device was very easy. When I came round I could feel where it was in my gut. But now I cant feel a thing.
Professor Nadey Hakim, who helped fit the device, said: This treatment is going to be a lot cheaper than treating kidney complications of diabetes or even having to carry out a transplant.
1 stone = 14 pounds
going in and having a band fitted don't seem too drastic, all these diets don't seem be working.
If I was very overweight I would consider having it done.more for the positive effects on diabetic complications.
giving someone prone to gluttony this procedure may encourage them to eat too much and cause other complications
though I don't consider myself to be a glutton overeating is a very easy thing to do without really noticing
That is until the pounds or stone's start piling on