Efficacy of Semaglutide in Reactive Hypoglycemia Related to Dumping Syndrome after Bariatric Surgery.

Abstract

Introduction: Postprandial hypoglycemia induced by Dumping Syndrome (DS) represents a side effect of bariatric surgery linked to glucose-dependent hyperinsulinemia, which can cause serious symptoms 2-3 hours after the meal hypoglycemia. This clinical case shows the effectiveness of semaglutide, a long-acting GLP1 receptor agonist, in one patient previously subjected to gastric bypass (GBP), with persistent late postprandial hypoglycaemic symptoms occurring after surgery.

Case report: A female patient, 31 years old, subjected to GBP 10 years earlier, with the diagnosis of diabetes, was admitted to our unit for persistent post-prandial reactive hypoglycemia, confirmed by Flash Glucose Monitoring (FGM) FreeStyle. The patient was intolerant to metformin, had been treated with acarbose with poor results. HbA1c 7.9%. Acarbose was suspended, and semaglutide was started sc at increasing doses, 0.25 mg/week for 1 month and subsequently 0.5 mg/week. After the first few weeks, symptoms of DS were significantly reduced with improvement of the daily glycemic profile and disappearance of hypoglycemic events. The time-below range, time spent with blood glucose <70 mg/dl, decreased by 12% to 4% during treatment with semaglutide 0.25 mg/week, up to 1% with a dose of 0.5 mg/week. The effect of the drug on reducing hypoglycemic episodes was persistent for up to 8 months.

Conclusion: Treatment of post-bariatric reactive hypoglycemia includes nutritional therapy, the use of glucosidase inhibitors, and somatostatin analogues. The use of short-acting GLP-1RA analogues has also recently been reported. In our patient, therapy with semaglutide s.c. significantly reduced episodes of reactive hypoglycemia with an improvement in the quality of life.

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