RESEARCH SUPPORT, U.S. GOV'T, P.H.S.
Octreotide reverses hyperinsulinemia and prevents hypoglycemia induced by sulfonylurea overdoses.
Emergency therapy of sulfonylurea overdoses with glucose is often unsatisfactory because glucose stimulates insulin release and initiates a need for escalating quantities of hypertonic glucose to maintain normoglycemia. We tested the hypothesis that octreotide, an analog of somatostatin, would reverse hyperinsulinemia induced by a sulfonylurea overdose. Eight normal subjects received glipizide (1.45 mg/kg) on three occasions. Within 3 h, all subjects became hypoglycemic (< 50 mg/dL) and were initially treated with 50% dextrose followed by 1) dextrose infusion, 2) octreotide (30 ng/kg.min, iv), or 3) diazoxide (300 mg, iv, every 4 h). Euglycemia (85 mg/dL) was maintained with supplementary dextrose in treatment limbs 2 and 3. Insulin concentrations were 4-5 times greater with dextrose alone or in combination with diazoxide than with octreotide (P < 0.01). Dextrose requirements during diazoxide or dextrose alone were not different, but were both greater than those during octreotide treatment (P < 0.0001). All therapies were stopped at 13 h. Glucose levels remained above 3.6 mmol/L (65 mg/dL) in six of eight subjects receiving octreotide for the remaining 4 h. Glucose fell to below 3.6 mmol/L within 1.5 h of stopping either dextrose or diazoxide in each subject. Overall, octreotide reduced and in four of eight subjects entirely eliminated the need for exogenous glucose after a large overdose of glipizide. We conclude that octreotide is safe and effective and should be strongly considered as a logical therapeutic alternative for this metabolic emergency.
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