Cutting-edge drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound are all the rage for dropping excess pounds, but weight-loss surgery might have a better impact on people’s health, a new study says. People who had weight-loss surgery lost more weight, lived longer and faced fewer serious health problems compared to those prescribed GLP-1 drugs, researchers reported Sept. 16 in the journal Nature Medicine. “Even with today’s best medicines, metabolic surgery offers unique and lasting benefits for people with obesity and diabetes,” senior researcher Dr. Ali Aminian, director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Bariatric & Metabolic Institute, said in a news release. “The benefits we observed went beyond weight loss,” he said. “Surgery was linked to fewer heart problems, less kidney disease and even lower rates of diabetes-related eye damage.” For the study, researchers tracked nearly 4,000 people with diabetes and obesity treated at the Cleveland Clinic between 2010 and 2017. Participants included more than 1,600 who underwent bariatric procedures like gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy, and nearly 2,300 treated with GLP-1 drugs. After around six years of follow-up, people who got weight-loss surgery had a: 32% lower risk of death. 35% lower risk of major heart problems. 47% lower risk of serious kidney disease. 54% lower risk of diabetes-related vision loss. Surgery patients also lost more weight — nearly 22% over 10 years, compared with just under 7% for…  read on >  read on >

Cutting-edge drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound are all the rage for dropping excess pounds, but weight-loss surgery might have a better impact on people’s health, a new study says. People who had weight-loss surgery lost more weight, lived longer and faced fewer serious health problems compared to those prescribed GLP-1 drugs, researchers reported Sept. 16 in the journal Nature Medicine. “Even with today’s best medicines, metabolic surgery offers unique and lasting benefits for people with obesity and diabetes,” senior researcher Dr. Ali Aminian, director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Bariatric & Metabolic Institute, said in a news release. “The benefits we observed went beyond weight loss,” he said. “Surgery was linked to fewer heart problems, less kidney disease and even lower rates of diabetes-related eye damage.” For the study, researchers tracked nearly 4,000 people with diabetes and obesity treated at the Cleveland Clinic between 2010 and 2017. Participants included more than 1,600 who underwent bariatric procedures like gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy, and nearly 2,300 treated with GLP-1 drugs. After around six years of follow-up, people who got weight-loss surgery had a: 32% lower risk of death. 35% lower risk of major heart problems. 47% lower risk of serious kidney disease. 54% lower risk of diabetes-related vision loss. Surgery patients also lost more weight — nearly 22% over 10 years, compared with just under 7% for…  read on >  read on >

A simple shunt can restore walking ability and independence in elderly people with a rare brain condition, a major new clinical trial has found. Implanting a shunt to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid significantly improved walking and mobility among seniors with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), researchers reported Sept. 16 in The New England Journal of Medicine. The condition is caused by a buildup of fluid in between the brain and spine and a person’s skull, researchers said. Left untreated, it leads to walking and balance problems, memory decline and bladder control issues. Doctors have known about normal pressure hydrocephalus since 1965, and for decades have been using surgically implanted shunts to relieve pressure on patients’ brains. Shunts are thin, surgically implanted tubes that allow excess fluid to drain off. However, there’s been ongoing debate regarding the use of shunts, and even the existence of NPH, researchers said. “If there’s one thing this study does, it resolves a controversy that’s been around for many, many years,” said co-lead researcher Dr. Michael Willams, a professor of neurology and neurological surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. “There’ve been a lot of physicians who doubt that the disorder exists or that treatment with the surgical implantation of a shunt is either effective or safe.” This trial puts that to rest, he said in a…  read on >  read on >

A simple shunt can restore walking ability and independence in elderly people with a rare brain condition, a major new clinical trial has found. Implanting a shunt to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid significantly improved walking and mobility among seniors with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), researchers reported Sept. 16 in The New England Journal of Medicine. The condition is caused by a buildup of fluid in between the brain and spine and a person’s skull, researchers said. Left untreated, it leads to walking and balance problems, memory decline and bladder control issues. Doctors have known about normal pressure hydrocephalus since 1965, and for decades have been using surgically implanted shunts to relieve pressure on patients’ brains. Shunts are thin, surgically implanted tubes that allow excess fluid to drain off. However, there’s been ongoing debate regarding the use of shunts, and even the existence of NPH, researchers said. “If there’s one thing this study does, it resolves a controversy that’s been around for many, many years,” said co-lead researcher Dr. Michael Willams, a professor of neurology and neurological surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle. “There’ve been a lot of physicians who doubt that the disorder exists or that treatment with the surgical implantation of a shunt is either effective or safe.” This trial puts that to rest, he said in a…  read on >  read on >