Early research suggests an investigational outpatient endoscopic procedure may help eliminate the need for insulin in people with type 2 diabetes.

Re-cellularization via electroporation therapy (ReCET) uses a specialized catheter to deliver alternating electric pulses to the duodenum to induce cellular regeneration. This process is thought to improve insulin sensitivity, in part, by altering gut hormones and nutritional sensing, principal investigator Jacques Bergman, MD, PhD, said.

“This might be a game changer in the management of type 2 diabetes because a single outpatient endoscopic intervention was suggested to have a pretty long therapeutic effect, which is compliance-free, as opposed to drug therapy that relies on patients taking the drugs on a daily basis,” said Bergman, professor of gastrointestinal endoscopy at Amsterdam University Medical Center, Netherlands.

Read more about the procedure here.