Remission of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus after Bariatric Surgery: Fact or Fiction?

Although type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been traditionally viewed as an intractable chronic medical condition, accumulating evidence points towards the notion that a complete remission of T2DM is feasible following a choice of medical and/or surgical interventions. This has been paralleled by increasing interest in the establishment of a universal definition for T2DM remission which, under given circumstances, could be considered equivalent to a “cure”. The efficacy of bariatric surgery in particular for achieving glycemic control has highlighted surgery as a candidate curative intervention for T2DM. Herein, available evidence regarding available surgical modalities and the mechanisms that drive metabolic amelioration after bariatric surgery are reviewed. Furthermore, reports from observational and randomized studies with regard to T2DM remission are reviewed, along with concepts relevant to the variety of definitions used for T2DM remission and other potential sources of discrepancy in success rates among different studies.