Severe recurrent hypoglycemia after gastric bypass surgery.

Someone sent this link to me yesterday - it's about a study that treated several people with severe hypoglycemia after gastric bypass with silastic bands or lap bands over their roux en y pouches - it worked, mostly.  Pancreas surgery is considered the second line of defense after trying this first.  (Good to know.)

I would not mind having a band put in to stop the hypoglycemia if it becomes necessary to treat.  Pancreatic surgery scares me.

1:Obes Surg. 2008 Aug;18(8):981-8. Epub 2008 Apr 26.

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Severe recurrent hypoglycemia after gastric bypass surgery.

Z'graggen K, Guweidhi A, Steffen R, Potoczna N, Biral R, Walther F, Komminoth P, Horber F.

Berner Viszeralchirurgie and Schweizerisches Pankreaszentrum Klinik Beau-Site Bern, Bern, Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery is, at present, the most effective method to achieve major, long-term weight loss in severely obese patients. Recently, severe recurrent symptomatic hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia was described as a consequence of gastric bypass surgery (GBS) in a small series of patients with severe obesity. Pancreatic nesidioblastosis, a hyperplasia of islet cells, was postulated to be the cause, and subtotal or total pancreatectomy was the suggested treatment. METHODS: We observed that severe, disabling hypoglycemia after GBS occurred only in patients with loss of restriction. Whether restoration of gastric restriction might treat severe, recurrent hypoglycemia after GBS is unknown.

RESULTS: Therefore, gastric restriction was restored by surgical placement of a silastic ring (n = 8, first two patients with additional distal pancreatectomy) or an adjustable gastric band (n = 4) around the pouch in 12 consecutive patients presenting with severe hypoglycemia (blood glucose below 2.2 mM). At follow-up after restoration of gastric restriction (median follow-up 7 months, range 5 to 19 months), 11 patients demonstrated no hypoglycemic episodes, while one had recurrence of hypoglycemia and underwent distal pancreatectomy. Procedural mortality was 0% and morbidity 8.3%. CONCLUSION: Patients suffering from severe recurrent hypoglycemia after GBS can be treated, in most cases, just by restoration of gastric restriction. Distal pancreatectomy should be considered a second-line treatment.

PMID: 18438618 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]