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Does glucagon stimulation predict oral glucose tolerance in patients after simultaneous pancreas-kidney
1Department of Medicine, Ruhr-University Bochum, Knappschafts-Krankenhaus, Germany.
Background:
Exogenous glucagon rapidly stimulates insulin secretion. This test has been used to estimate insulin secretory capacity, which may predict oral glucose tolerance in patients after pancreas transplantation.
Methods:
In 32 pancreas-kidney transplant recipients, in 10 nondiabetic kidney transplant recipients, and in 9 healthy control subjects, a glucagon stimulation test (1 mg i.v.) and a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test were performed with determination of glucose, insulin, and C-peptide profiles.
Results:
Of 16 pancreas transplant recipients with the lowest insulin responses after glucagon, 7 had an impaired oral glucose tolerance, in contrast to 1 of 16 with high insulin responses (P=0.037). A low insulin response after glucagon was associated with significantly lower 120-min glucose concentrations (P=0.043) and a lower integrated incremental insulin response after oral glucose (P=0.006).
Conclusions:
In pancreas-kidney transplant recipients, a low insulin response after intravenous glucagon predicts a reduced insulin response after oral glucose and an impaired oral glucose tolerance. This simple test may be helpful in the follow-up of pancreas transplant recipients.