Approach to refractory hypoglycemia in the setting of pancreatic mass and commonly seen pitfalls

Samantha Edwards BA, Genanew Bedanie MD, Drew Payne DO

ABSTRACT

An 86-year-old male presented with severe hypoglycemia and encephalopathy. Hypoglycemia workup determined the cause to be endogenous insulin. A pancreatic mass increased clinical suspicion for insulinoma, a rare pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor. Surgery is curative; however, the patient in this case was placed on comfort measures and died. This case report examines the clinical guidelines for evaluation, diagnosis, and management of hypoglycemia in persons without diabetic mellitus.

Keywords: Hypoglycemia, testing, pancreatic mass

Article citation: Edwards S, Bedanie G, Payne D. Approach to refractory hypoglycemia in the setting of pancreatic mass and commonly seen pitfalls. The Southwest Respiratory and Critical Care Chronicles 2020;8(33):47–51
From: Department of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas
Submitted: 12/8/2019
Accepted: 12/20/2019
Reviewer: Marcella Rivas MD
Conflicts of interest: none
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.