Background: In patients with late dumping syndrome following gastrectomy, it has been reported that hypoglycemia occurs due to inhibition of glucagon secretion as a result of excessive insulin production facilitated by an increase in glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).
Methods: To determine the kinetics of incretins in Japanese patients with late dumping syndrome, an oral glucose tolerance test was carried out before and after miglitol administration, and the kinetics of insulin and incretins were analyzed.
Results: After miglitol administration, there was improvement of hypoglycemia and early phase insulin secretion, with persistent excessive insulin secretion being minimized. These findings revealed that miglitol inhibited rapid excessive influx of carbohydrates into the blood and persistent elevation of GLP-1, resulting in improvement of early phase insulin secretion and minimizing persistent excessive insulin secretion.
Conclusions: Eating frequent small meals is generally effective for late dumping syndrome, but patients often find it difficult to continue such a regimen. Based on the present analysis of incretin kinetics, miglitol may be a useful treatment option for late dumping syndrome.
Keywords: Glucagon-like peptide-1; Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide; Late dumping syndrome; α-glucosidase inhibitor.