Case report: diabetic ketoacidosis in a patient with glucagonoma

The development of diabetic ketoacidosis is an unusual complication of a glucagon-secreting pancreatic islet cell neoplasm, with only four reported cases in the literature. In this article, the authors report on a 46-year-old woman with a glucagonoma cosecreting pancreatic polypeptide, somatostatin, and serotonin diagnosed 8 months before the onset of diabetic ketoacidosis. She was treated with hydration, insulin, and octreotide, with improvement in her clinical course and a decrease in the glucagon, pancreatic polypeptide, and chromogranin A plasma levels. With the addition of weekly 5-FU, she has maintained a partial radiographic response and has had no further episodes of diabetic ketoacidosis for a 4.5-year period. Diabetic ketoacidosis can develop in the presence of a glucagonoma, and the pathophysiology remains unknown.