Hypoglycemia with a large retroperitoneal mass - Case report

Jennifer A Hawasli; Jacob R Hopping; Eddy C Hsueh

doi:10.1016/j.ijscr.2014.11.013

Hypoglycemia with a large retroperitoneal mass - Case report

Int J Surg Case Rep. 2014;5(12):1225-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijscr.2014.11.013. Epub 2014 Nov 11.

Authors

Jennifer A Hawasli¹, Jacob R Hopping², Eddy C Hsueh²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States. Electronic address: JPick@SLU.edu.
² Department of Surgery, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States.

Abstract

Introduction: Retroperitoneal sarcomas have rarely been reported to secrete insulin-growth factor II (IGF-II) and produce an enigmatic hypoglycemia. IGF-II-secreting sarcomas represent an extremely rare subset of soft tissue tumors, and reports are limited to a handful of cases.

Presentation of case: The authors present the case of hypoglycemia due to an IGF-II-secreting retroperitoneal sarcoma that was successfully treated by complete surgical resection. This report describes the diagnosis and management of this rare syndrome with 1-year follow-up and a review of the literature.

Discussion: Steroid and growth hormone therapies also have efficacy to treat this hypoglycemia in some patients. However, outcomes appear better if combined with surgical resection.

Conclusions: The findings of this case report and review of the literature support a primary role for complete tumor resection to address tumor-induced hypoglycemia.

Keywords: Hypoglycemia; Insulin-like growth factor; Retroperitoneal mass.