Giant malignant insulinoma which developed from a non-functioning pancreatic tumor over a long period of time

Riferimento: 
Intern Med. 2010;49(15):1573-9.
Autori: 
Sugiyama T1, Kouyama R, Tani Y, Izumiyama H, Akashi T, Kishimoto S, Arii S, Hirata Y.
Fonte: 
Intern Med. 2010;49(15):1573-9.
Anno: 
2010
Azione: 
Insulinoma con tumore della tiroide e del pancreas concomitanti, come rilevato dalla scintigrafia del recettore della somatostatina (SRS), è risultato migliorato con la somministrazione di un analogo della somatostatina, l'octreotide.
Target: 
Octreotide/insulinoma.

ABSTRACT
Insulinomas are the most common hormone-producing pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), which are usually benign, solitary and small. We describe herein a patient with a giant insulinoma (>10 cm in diameter) with concomitant thyroid tumor as detected by Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS). A 50-year-old man presented hypoglycemic symptoms 20 years after the first detection of a pancreatic tumor, which was ameliorated by administration of a somatostatin analogue, octreotide. SRS showed abnormal uptake by the insulinoma as well as by the thyroid tumor. RT-PCR and immunohistochemical study revealed abundant expression of somatostatin receptor (SSTR)-1, -2, and -5 in his insulinoma and SSTR-1 and -2 in his thyroid follicular neoplasm. This is a rare case of a slow-growing pancreatic well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma over a long period of time to become a symptomatic giant insulinoma. Furthermore, SRS proves to be a useful tool for localization of insulinoma as well as concomitant thyroid neoplasm with predominant expression of SSTRs.
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