News from Weill Cornell Medical College

Diabetes Surgery Summit Consensus Lays Foundation for New Field of Medicine

November 24, 2009 A first-of-its-kind consensus statement on diabetes surgery is published online today in the Annals of Surgery. The report illustrates the findings of the first international consensus conference -- Diabetes Surgery Summit (DSS) -- where an international group of more than 50 scientific and medical experts agreed on a set of evidence-based guidelines and definitions that are meant to guide the use and study of gastrointestinal surgery to treat type 2 diabetes. The document is considered to be the foundation of diabetes surgery as a medical discipline of its own.

The Diabetes Surgery Summit was held at the Catholic University of Rome, Italy, under the auspices of 22 international medical and scientific organizations, notably including the American Diabetes Association, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, Diabetes United Kingdom, The Obesity Society and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. A draft of the DSS consensus statement was critically reviewed by official representatives of these organizations during the recent 1st World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes, held in New York City and organized by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. [more]