BACKGROUND Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) are a group of rare tumors. Chromogranin A (CgA) was considered as the most practical and useful serum tumor marker in PNET patients. But peripheral blood levels of CgA are not routinely tested in Chinese patients with PNETs. This study was to assess the diagnostic value of CgA in Chinese patients with PNETs especially in patients with insulin...

BACKGROUND Hypoglycemia due to a pancreatic beta cell neoplasm - insulinoma, is uncommon with only a few cases described. We report on a previously healthy 15-year-old Hispanic female with insulinoma who presented with a loss of consciousness due to hypoglycemia unawareness. CASE PRESENTATION EM was first brought to the emergency department (ED) after she was found unresponsive at home with p...

The concentration of glucose in plasma is an important determinant of pancreatic beta-cell mass, whereas the relative contributions of hypertrophy, proliferation, and cell survival to this process are unclear. Glucose results in depolarization and subsequent calcium influx into islet beta-cells. Because depolarization and calcium (Ca(2+)) influx promote survival of neuronal cells, we hypothesiz...

CONTEXT Preoperative localisation of insulinoma improves cure rate and reduces complications, but may be challenging. OBJECTIVE To review diagnostic features and localisation accuracy for insulinomas. DESIGN Cross-sectional, retrospective analysis. SETTING A single tertiary referral centre. PATIENTS Patients with insulinoma in the years 1990-2009, including sporadic tumours and those in...

Animal insulinoma cell lines are widely used to study physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms involved in glucose metabolism and to establish in vitro models for studies on beta-cells. In contrast, human insulinoma cell lines are rarely used because of difficulties in obtaining and culturing them for long periods. The aim of our study was to investigate, under different experimental con...

Insulinoma is the most common cause of endogenous hyperinsulinism. Most are benign and solitary. Hereby authors present a 36-year-old woman who was admitted for confusion, aggressive behaviour, visual hallucinations. Initial investigation revealed hypoglycaemia, patient recovered after administration intravenous glucose. The 72-hour fasting test compatible with Endoscopic ultrasound detected no...

OBJECTIVE In vitro studies showed that insulin stimulates the production of apolipoprotein AI (apoAI). Thus, we hypothesized that chronic hyperinsulinemia could contribute to the increase in the production of high-density lipoprotein apoAI that is observed in metabolic syndrome. APPROACH AND RESULTS We performed an in vivo kinetic study with stable isotope in 7 patients with insulinoma who sh...

Objective The selective arterial secretagogue injection (SASI) test is considered indispensable for the accurate localization of insulinoma. However, the optimum timing of the post-injection evaluation is controversial, as some studies recommend 60 seconds [SASI (60 seconds)] while others support 120 seconds [SASI (120 seconds)]. The aim of this study was to determine the optimum timing for the...

While insulinoma cells have been developed and proven to be extremely useful in studies focused on mechanisms controlling β-cell function and viability, translating findings to human β-cells has proven difficult because of the limited access to human islets and the absence of suitable insulinoma cell lines of human origin. Recently, a human β-cell line, EndoC-βH1, has been derived from human fe...