Gastric carcinoma associated with severe hypoglycemia sensitive to diazoxide

A case of carcinoma of the stomach associated with severe hypoglycemia is reported. Diagnosis of insulinoma was excluded on the basis of history as well as laboratory tests. Postmortem examination revealed widespread small metastases to various organs; no metastasis was found in the pancreas; the histology of this gland did not show any pathological finding. No impairment in pituitary, thyroid, adrenal and liver function was detected. Fasting blood sugar ranged from 18 to 56 mg/100 ml. An oral glucose tolerance test showed a diabetic pattern with low insulin. Tolbutamide, glucagon and glucose injected i.v. gave only a moderate rise in plasma insulin levels; plasma glucagon response to arginine was subnormal. The determination of NSILA-s and gastrin in the serum of this patient gave normal values. Diazoxide infusion induced an increase in blood glucose and subsequent treatment with diazoxide relieved hypoglycemia for some months. The occasional detection of an islet cell antibody by immunofluorescence in this case is not easily understandable, but it might partly account for the carbohydrate intolerance. An impairment in gluconeogenesis dependent upon some substrate deficiency might account for the hypoglycemia in this patient.