Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and the Metabolic Syndrome: Pathophysiologic Relationships and Guidelines for Surgical Intervention.

Several gastrointestinal (GI) operations originally developed for the treatment of severe obesity (bariatric surgery) promote sustained weight loss as well as dramatic, durable improvements of insulin-resistant states, most notably type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Experimental evidence shows that some rearrangements of GI anatomy can directly affect glucose homeostasis, insulin sensitivity, and inflammation, supporting the idea that the GI tract is a biologically rational target for interventions aimed at correcting pathophysiologic aspects of cardiometabolic disorders. This article reviews the pathophysiology of metabolic disease and the role of bariatric/metabolic surgery in current clinical guidelines for the treatment of obesity and T2DM.