Does length of common limb influence remission of diabetes? Short-term results

Despite strict patient selection criteria, diabetes remission is not seen in all patients after gastric bypass. Can length of the common limb influence diabetes remission?

To find if any correlation exists between the length of the common limb and remission of diabetes.

Prospective study.

Twenty-five consecutive patients with Type II diabetes mellitus and a fasting C-peptide >1 ng/ml who underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-y gastric bypass were included. All patients had standard limb lengths and length of the common limb was measured in all patients. Patients were followed up and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) was repeated at 6 months postoperatively. Pre- and postoperative HbA1c were then correlated with the lengths of common limb to look for any relation.

Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Of the 25 patients, 15 were females and 10 were males. The mean age was 44.16 years and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 43.96 kg/m(2). Preoperative HbA1c varied from 5.8 to 12.3%. Length of the common limb varied from 210 to 790 cm (mean 470.4 cm). HbA1c at 6 months ranged from 4.8 to 7.7% (mean 5.81%). On comparison of preoperative and 6 months postoperative HbA1c and correlating with the length of common limb, we found that patients with a common limb of length <600 cm had a statistically significant improvement in HbA1c compared to those with >600 cm length (P = 0.004).

A shorter common limb does appear to have better chances of resolution of Type II diabetes mellitus in our study, thus paving the way for further studies.