The surgical treatment of type two diabetes mellitus.

Since the discovery that gastric bypass surgery leads to the rapid reversal of type 2 diabetes mellitus in morbidly obese patients, researchers have been searching for possible mechanisms to explain the result. The significance of bariatric surgery is twofold. It offers hope and successful therapy to the severely obese; those with T2DM, sleep apnea, or polycystic ovary disease; and others plagued by the comorbidities of the metabolic syndrome. This article examines four surgical procedures and their outcomes.