Endocrinologists and Surgeons Join Forces to Fight Type 2 Diabetes

Newswise — At the 1st World Congress for Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes, prominent endocrinologists from around the world will convene in an exchange with leading surgeons about the role of surgery and other emerging new therapies for type 2 diabetes.

Twenty-four of the most important Scientific Societies from the US and worldwide have endorsed the World Congress to encourage a responsible and timely discussion of all aspects of this emerging discipline, including its implications for public health and diabetes research.

"The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) is pleased to endorse the 1st World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes” the Society said in a statement. “AACE recognizes the need for interventions that are proven to be safe and effective in the management of type 2 diabetes. AACE looks forward to participating in this very important scientific meeting, which will critically examine the potential role for surgery in treating type 2 diabetes and other related metabolic disorders."

“I am excited about the collaboration between endocrinologists and surgeons,” said Dr. Louis Aronne clinical professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. “Together along with other leading experts in diabetes and public health, the Congress will examine the emerging role of surgery, not only as a therapy for type 2 diabetes, but as a means to shed light on the causes of the disease. The lessons we are already learning from studying gastrointestinal surgery have tremendous implications for the same future of medical therapies of diabetes.”

Type 2 Diabetes affects an estimated 24 million Americans and 246 million people worldwide, a number that is expected to grow to 380 million by 2025. Faced with the escalating global diabetes crisis, health care providers require potent tools for therapeutic interventions. Various types of surgery on the gastrointestinal tract constitute extremely powerful options to help fight diabetes in patients with severe obesity. The appropriate role of surgery in the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes has recently become a matter of intense scientific and public debate.

"Surgery has arrived like a comet across the firmament of diabetes and obesity—unexpected, brilliant, with great promise for the future,” said Dr. Jesse Roth, Congress faculty member, researcher, and diabetologist at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York. “Teams of talented researchers are moving ahead to define the role of surgery in the treatment of both of these scourges.”

Dr Francesco Rubino, Director of the World Congress and Chief of Metabolic Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, emphasized that surgery offers also a unique opportunity to improve knowledge of the mechanisms of diabetes. “Teasing out the agents responsible for the beneficial effects of gastrointestinal surgery on diabetes may lead to new discoveries and provide targets for new medications or even less invasive interventional therapies.”

1ST WORLD CONGRESS ON INTERVENTIONAL THERAPIES FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES
The 1st World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes is a comprehensive and multidisciplinary forum where leaders in the global health community will conduct an organized review and discussion of the latest scientific data and theories on the use of bariatric surgery for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The Congress, hosted by Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, aims to create a forum for the medical community to work with health policy makers, including top public health authorities and insurers from the U.S. and around the world. The overarching aim is to craft an agenda of health policy initiatives to seize the opportunity offered by gastrointestinal surgery and novel interventional therapies for the understanding and treatment of diabetes. For more information, visit http://www.interventionaldiabetology.org.

The 1st World Congress will be held on September 15-16, 2008, at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. To register for the Congress visit http://www.interventionaldiabetology.org.