Hypoglycemia Controlled by Prednisone in an Occult Insulinoma or a Nesidioblastosis

Abstract

Insulinoma is a pancreatic endocrine tumor lower in size than 20 mm in 80% of the cases and his treatment is chirurgical. However, in certain circumstances such as an occult location or circumstances of metastases, medical treatment is called for. Observation: A 29 years old patient with no specific pathological antecedents has presented severe hypoglycemia mainly in the morning. A patient was in a generally good condition. The fasting test revealed an inappropriate secretion of insulin at a venous glycemia of 0.35 g/l; which was corroborated by Turner index and altered glucose insulin index that we calculated. Moreover, the 8 h cortisolemia was normal at 90.13 ng/l, the TSH was normal at 1.44 μui/l, anti-insulin antibodies were negative at 6.7 U/l; the search of hypoglycemic sulfonamides was negative. Morphologically, she had three pancreatic tomodensitometry these were normal. She also had echo-endoscopy which showed a normal pancreas. The surgical exploration with preoperative echo is advised only after surgeon’s assessment when the technical conditions are not put together. The diagnosis of the occult insulinoma or of nesidioblastosis was retained. The medical treatment was retained. Due to the unavailability of diazoxide in our pharmacies and the high cost of analogs of somatostatine, she was provided with prednisone 0.5 mg/kg/24h which was 40 mg/day after common agreement. The evolution was favorable. Conclusion: It should be noticed that medical treatment can be suggested if insulinoma is not localized. This observation proves that the localization of the insulinoma can be unsuccessful. It should also be noticed that our experience is the fourth described in literature, where hypoglycemia in insulinomas is controlled by prednisone.