The effect of somatostatin in dumping syndrome after gastric surgery

The effect of somatostatin on early and late dumping syndrome was studied in 12 patients with gastric resection. Each patient underwent two glucose challenges with 75 gram of glucose administered orally. In the control study isotonic sodium chloride was given, while in the other study cyclic somatostatin in a dose of 80 ng/kg/min was given for a period of 270 minutes. In the control study all patients showed subjective symptoms of the early dumping syndrome with significant (p < 0.001) increases in pulse rate, hematocrit, and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide. Ten patients showed asymptomatic hypoglycemia, as a sign of the late dumping syndrome associated with a significant (p < 0.001) increase of insulin, gastric inhibitory peptide and glucagon levels. During the administration of somatostatin these changes failed to develop. The difference between the results of the two challenges are significant. These results indicate that somatostatin alleviates the symptoms both of early and late dumping syndrome partly by inhibiting the vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, gastric inhibitory peptide and insulin release, which are increased in dumping syndrome and may, therefore, be implicated as to have an etiological role.