Dear Colleagues and Friends,
A number of gastrointestinal operations referred to as bariatric/metabolic surgery can cause dramatic improvement or even long-term remission of type 2 diabetes, a disease otherwise considered chronic and irreversible. Over the past decade, clinical and experimental research has shown that such powerful anti-diabetes effect results from changes in various aspects of gastrointestinal physiology, revealing a crucial and previously underappreciated role of the gut in glucose metabolism. This new knowledge challenges traditional paradigms of disease and may provide clues for the discovery of the yet elusive causes of this illness.
Despite surgical treatment of type 2 diabetes is now supported by evidence from randomized clinical trials, significant barriers still prevent access to surgery for those who need it. Furthermore, the exact mechanisms by which surgery controls diabetes are not completely understood; advancing this knowledge may reveal new targets for future, less invasive interventional therapies and novel pharmaceuticals.
To address the challenges and seize the opportunities that surgery offers to diabetes care and research, we established the World Congress on Interventional Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes, an international forum where a stellar Faculty of clinicians, scientists and policy makers discuss available evidence on the use and study of bariatric/metabolic surgery and new device-based intervention. The overarching aim of the congress is to craft an agenda of research priorities and health policy initiatives.
The previous two editions of the world congress, held in New York in 2008 and 2011 attracted participants from nearly 65 countries, establishing this meeting as the most prestigious multidisciplinary gathering entirely dedicated to the emerging field of diabetes surgery.
The 3rd Edition of the World Congress will be held in London, UK, on September 28-30, 2015, jointly with the 2nd Diabetes Surgery Summit (DSS-II), an influential consensus conference aimed at the development of guidelines and recommendations for a modern, multimodality approach to the care of diabetes.
Draft DSS guidelines will be presented during dedicated plenary sessions of the world congress and open to public input by Faculty members and the audience at large. On the last day of the event, the DSS delegates will use such input to refine and approve a final DSS document that informs clinicians about the role of surgery in diabetes care.
Attendance of this truly historical event provides a unique opportunity to get abreast of the science behind metabolic surgery and to participate in initiatives that will expand the horizons of diabetes care and research for years to come.
On behalf of the organizing committee and myself, I look forward to welcoming you to London for this exciting and memorable event.
Prof. Francesco Rubino, MD
Chair, Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery
King’s College London
London, UK
