Fibrous pleural tumor with hypoglycemia: case study

Many neoplastic tumors exhibit paraneoplastic syndromes manifested by endocrinopathy. This is particularly true of intrathoracic tumors such as lung cancers, thymomas, carcinoid tumors and mediastinal germ cell neoplasm. Fibrous tumors of the pleura are rare intrathoracic tumors, which are usually benign and often grow to huge size. A subset of these neoplasms present with the syndrome of hypoglycemia. Although first reported more than 70 years ago, the diagnosis is rarely considered when a patient presents with syncope and hypoglycemia. This article reports a patient who presented with a large pleural mass and a hypoglycemic syndrome. (The disease was surgically cured.) The probable mechanism of hypoglycemia is discussed.