>”The dudodenum is where the majority of absorbtion of nutirents takes place”< ——
Really, what’s the other 20 odd feet there for? My understanding of its function is a little more like this:
The duodenum is largely responsible for the breakdown of food in the small intestine. Brunner’s glands, which secrete mucus, are found in the duodenum. The duodenum wall is composed of a very thin layer of cells that form the muscularis mucosae.
The duodenum also regulates the rate of emptying of the stomach via hormonal pathways. Secretin and cholecystokinin are released from cells in the duodenal epithelium in response to acidic and fatty stimuli present there when the pyloris opens and releases gastric chyme into the duodenum for further digestion. These cause the liver and gall bladder to release bile, and the pancreas to release bicarbonate and digestive enzymes such as trypsin, lipase and amylase into the duodenum as they are needed.
My Dad had a variation of this surgery. Actually, he had a bile duct bypass done 40 years ago for a choledochal cyst, by a competent surgeon at Mayo.
A few years ago, a new surgeon convinced him that they could "further reduce his risk of cancer with this great new surgery." At the time of this surgery, he was perfectly healthy; his problems from childhood with the cysts had been cured for years...but the surgeon terrified him with the prospect that he might be at risk for cancer. They performed a roux en y hepaticojejunostomy.
He nearly immediately developed diabetes (he did not have it prior to the surgery) as mentioned in the paragraph above...that theory appears to be correct.
Several years later, he developed adenocarcinoma of the bile ducts in his liver; and died three months after diagnosis.
I'm just saying: you had better have a VERY extreme case of Type II Diabetes, that has demonstrated itself completely uncontrollable with the normal treatment, before this type of drastic measure is recommended for a patient. The infection rate is rather high, I believe. I know that my Dad had back-up into his liver after surgery, and ended up spending three weeks in the hospital with a liver abscess.
The surgery itself is brutal...even when performed on a healthy person. I realize it is not exactly the same situation or procedure...but for goodness sake...it seems like total overkill; with a bunch of unknown future risks.
I do find it interesting that they may have found some "cause" in that area of the body for diabetes. Perhaps they can devise a less invasive treatment.