This systematic review examined two studies involving 134 human participants who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy. The researchers compared two surgical approaches: the Whipple procedure and pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy. They looked at how these surgeries affected gut hormones like GLP-1, GIP, and others, as well as glucose and insulin levels.
The analysis found that GLP-1 levels generally increased after the surgery. This rise was often seen with faster stomach emptying or greater exposure to nutrients in the lower intestine. When comparing the two surgical types, the data showed a direction favoring the Whipple procedure for early GLP-1 exposure.
However, the evidence for GIP was weaker and inconsistent. The study authors note that the meta-analytic component should be regarded as exploratory and hypothesis-generating only. Estimates of effect size were considered highly fragile because only two studies contributed to each pooled comparison. Findings should be interpreted with caution as they are not confirmatory.