Regionalization of occult pancreatic insulinomas with the arterial stimulation venous sampling (ASVS) technique

Non-invasive modalities (ultrasound, computerized tomography, MRI and somatostatin receptor scintigraphy) often fail to localize insulinomas smaller than 1.5 cm in diameter. Recently, regionalization of such occult insulinomas was facilitated by the arterial stimulation and venous sampling (ASVS) technique, using calcium as the insulin secretagogue. However, so far experience with this technique has been limited to a few tertiary referrals centres worldwide. In these case studies we report our experience in three consecutive patients with occult insulinomas. Three consecutive patients (all men 34, 51 and 56 years of age) with insulin-mediated hypoglycaemia were studied. Diagnosis of insulin hypersection was established by the finding of a high amended insulin: blood sugar ratio during fasting. Localization of a pancreatic mass lesion was unsuccessful by ultrasound, CT and/or MRI in all patients. Two patients had negative octreotide scans. In all patients after the infusion of calcium sequentially into the gastroduodenal, splenic and the superior mesenteric arteries, insulin levels rose significantly in right hepatic vein samples giving rise to diagnostic gradients from the splenic artery (in 2 patients) and gastroduodenal artery (in 1 patient), regionalizing insulinomas in the tail and head or neck of the pancreas respectively. The simultaneously obtained angiogram was positive in only 1 patient, in whom it corresponded to the insulin gradient. Regionalization of these occult tumours was subsequently confirmed at laparoscopy in the 2 patients operated. It is concluded, that the arterial stimulation venous sampling technique is an effective method in regionalizing occult insulinomas and should complement invasive angiography whenever the latter procedure is performed.