How is diabetes caused? Can I have surgery for type 2 diabetes? In the past few years, both doctors and patients will answer you with online Q&A: diabetes is currently incurable and can be controlled by medication, controlled diet and exercise to keep blood sugar stable. However, by 2010, diabetes surgery has been carried out in China for more than five years, and the cumulative number of surgical cases has reached more than 8,000, with a recovery rate of more than 92.6%. In Europe and the United States, where surgical treatment of diabetes has been performed earlier, more than one million diabetic patients have benefited. Previously, the treatment of diabetes was mainly based on the “five horses”, namely: education, diet control, exercise therapy, oral medication or insulin injection, and self-monitoring of blood glucose. However, according to a 10-year prospective diabetes study in the UK, only 1/3 of diabetic patients were well controlled in professional diabetes medical treatment centers combined with various new treatments, and most patients continued to have microvascular and macrovascular complications. In patients with diabetes for more than 3 years, the chance of complications is more than 46%; in patients with diabetes for more than 5 years, the chance of complications is more than 61%; in patients with diabetes for more than 10 years, the chance of complications is 98%. And with 3.8 million people dying from diabetes-related illnesses worldwide each year, medications do not control the progression of diabetes complications, and there is no way to get rid of lifelong medication. Why has diabetes been said to be incurable? Endocrinologists generally believe that diabetes is carried for life and is incurable. They believe that firstly, insulin resistance is a natural phenomenon that exists in nature and cannot be eliminated; secondly, islet function is declining and cannot be controlled by drugs. Minimally invasive surgery such as gastric diversion, on the other hand, has brought a new boon to diabetic patients. After minimally invasive surgery for diabetes, first, insulin resistance subsides, or even disappears; second, the islets proliferate. Thus both of the causes they thought existed are gone. And after a long post-operative visit, the patient recovered well indeed! Gastric diversion surgery offers a new boon for diabetics A comprehensive analysis of 22,094 patients showed that 84% of type 2 diabetes was completely reversed after the procedure, and most patients stopped taking oral medication or insulin therapy before being discharged from the hospital. Francesco Lupino of the Catholic University of Rome, Italy, reported similar results in Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic and India in diabetic patients who did not reach morbid obesity after gastric diversion surgery. Several other countries, such as China, Japan, Italy and Belgium, have also done clinical trials. In the United States, the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the world’s leading authority on diabetes treatment, officially included gastric diversion surgery (GBP) in the Diabetes Prevention and Control Guidelines, establishing it as a routine treatment for diabetes. In Europe, the 45th Annual Meeting of the European Society for the Study of Diabetes on September 29, 2009 confirmed that diabetes has become a surgically curable gastrointestinal disease. In China, the Chinese Medical Association, the Chinese Medical Association, the Chinese Center for Continuing Medical Education and other authoritative organizations have made gastric diversion surgery a key promotion project for three consecutive years. By 2010, more than one million diabetic patients in Europe and the United States have benefited. In China, the surgical treatment of diabetes has been carried out for more than 5 years, and the total number of surgical cases has reached more than 8,000, with a recovery rate of more than 92.6%.