Diabetes control via brain surgery?

Recently a group of surgeons from Pittsburg indicated that type 2 diabetes could be controlled by some type of brain surgery. Surgeons at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh conducted a small study of 10 patients with progressive type 2 diabetes. The surgeons compressed a part of the brain known as the medulla oblongata. It is believed that this part of the brain has some control over the pancreas. The patients were not permitted to make any alterations in their weight, diet, exercise for about 12 months after undergoing this brain surgery. This same type of procedure is often used to treat certain nerve compression symptoms.

Dr. Peter Jannetta, the neurosurgeon in charge of the study, reasons that decompression of the nerve in the medulla oblongata, which controls the pancreas, could ease function of type 2 diabetes.
 
The pancreas is the organ which makes the hormone insulin that burns the blood glucose. In type 2 diabetes, patients either can’t release the insulin from the pancreas, do not make enough insulin or the body becomes resistant to the effects of insulin.

In Dr Jannetta’s study, 7/10 patients had better blood glucose control after surgery. These patients were able to decrease their anti diabetic medication dose and one patient was able to come of his anti diabetic medication completely.
Current estimates indicate that close to 24 million people live with diabetes in the USA alone and that the numbers are increasing each year. If type 2 diabetes is left untreated, it can lead to blindness, kidney failure, stroke and heart attack.

So what does this mean for the diabetic patient?

Put it mildly- do not believe all the BULL you read. This is an insane study. Just causing the pancreas to release more insulin is not the answer to treating type 2 diabetes. In the majority of type 2 diabetics, there is insulin in the body, it just does not work because of resistance. In addition, this study had only 10 patients and the study was not even randomized. 

Secondly, brain surgery is not very safe and complications can be devastating. You may lower your diabetic medications but the surgery may paralyze you, cause blindness and hearing loss and even your speech may become garbled- and these are permanent complications. For consumers who have common sense, avoid such cockamanny nonsensical procedures to treat type 2 diabetes. 

If you have type 2 diabetes, walk more, eat less sugar and do not smoke. Pharmaceutical drugs we have may not be the ideal answer, but they are a lot safer than some crazy brain surgery!