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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Characterization of Metabolic Status in Nonhuman Primates with the Intravenous Glucose Tolerance Test
Published on: November 13, 2016
The diagnosis of insulinomas and other causes of fasting hypoglycemia
Abstract:
The decrease in insulin secretion in normal subjects in response to hypoglycemia provides a basis for suppression tests for diagnosing insulinomas. The majority of patients with insulinomas have hypoglycemia after an overnight fast, and inordinatley raised plasma insulin levels are diagnostic. A prolonged fast is a means of enhancing hypoglycemia. Fish insulin can be used to induce hypoglycemia over a short period, and provides a simple, dynamic suppression test which appears to give good diagnostic discrimination. A normal endogenous insulin response to fish-insulin-induced hypoglycemia, together with clinical assessment and a few simple investigations, virtually excludes the diseases which cause fasting hypoglycemia in adults.
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