Resolution of early stage diabetic nephropathy in an obese diabetic patient after gastric bypass.

Author: Perez G, Devaud N, Escalona A, Downey P

Author affiliation: Digestive Surgery Department, Hospital Clinico, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.

Publication date & source: 2006.10, Obes Surg., 16(10):1388-91.

Publication type: Case Reports

Epidemiological studies have proven that obesity is a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Long-term progression of diabetes leads to various microvascular complications, of which diabetic nephropathy has become of increasing importance, and is the main cause of end-stage renal failure in occidental countries. Microalbuminuria is the first marker of incipient diabetic nephropathy, an early stage glomerulopathy which can progress to renal failure and which historically has been treated with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor antagonists. We report a severely obese diabetic patient on treatment for diabetic nephropathy with ACE-inhibitors and poor results, which resolved after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.