Multifocal Insulinoma in Pancreas and Effect of Intraoperative Ultrasonography

Clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of patients with insulinoma-a single center's experience of 76 cases over a 10-year period

Objective

Insulinoma is a rare pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm caused by pancreatic beta cell tumor or beta cell proliferation resulting in excessive insulin secretion. Due to its rarity, surgical analysis and summary studies on patients with insulinoma are few and the sample size is limited.

Methods

In this study, we retrospective the cumulative experiences including demographics, clinical characteristics, detailed surgical reports and postoperative outcome of 76 patients diagnosed with insulinoma from 2010 to 2020 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University.

Results

Our cohort consisted of 48 females and 28 males with an average diagnosis age of 52 years. Loss of consciousness (68 %), sweating (59 %), vertigo (56 %) are three most shown symptoms. The average time from symptom onset to diagnosis of insulinoma was 33.4 month. When CT combined with MRI was used, the diagnostic rate was as high as 96.87 %. Of the 76 patients, 48.68 % of preoperative tumors were in the head/neck, and the remaining 51.32 % were in the body/tail. Most of the patients received surgery for enucleation (65.79 %). The duration of surgery was 216 ± 105 min. The incidence of postoperative pancreatic fistula was 53.95 %. Postoperative pancreatic hemorrhage occurred in 6 patients (7.89 %), all of whom were pancreatic head/neck surgery patients. The incidence of pancreatic fistula, bleeding and major complications after the operation of pancreatic head/neck insulinoma was higher than that of pancreatic body/tail insulinoma.

Conclusion

CT combined with MRI can localize insulinoma in most patients. As a parenchyma-sparing pancreatectomy, enucleation is the procedure of choice if possible. The incidence of postoperative hemorrhage should be more vigilant after the surgery of pancreatic head/neck insulinoma. The intraoperative suture of high-risk vessels prone to bleeding should be performed if necessary.

Initial Application of Fluorescence Imaging for Intraoperative Localization of Small Neuroendocrine Tumors in the Pancreas: Case Report and Review of the Literature

BACKGROUND

Indocyanine green is commonly used for laparoscopic hepatectomy but remains uncommon in pancreatic surgery. Given the increasing number of small neuroendocrine tumors found in the pancreas and the heavy reliance on laparoscopic ultrasound for intraoperative localization, we attempted to use indocyanine green for these tumors. Our results show good localization and have the potential to provide a valuable clinical aid.

CASE PRESENTATION

This case report details five patients with preoperative diagnosis of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors of small endocrine tumors, intraoperative successful localization, and successful completion of laparoscopic partial resection of pancreatic tumors by indocyanine green fluorescence staining; none of the patients experienced serious complications after surgery and were discharged from the hospital, and routine pathology confirmed that four cases were pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors of G1 stage, and one case was pancreatic neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia.

CONCLUSION

Fluorescence imaging technology safely aids in the intraoperative localization of small pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.

Surgical management of insulinomas at the Azerbaijan Medical University: a retrospective study of 21 cases over a 10-year period

Background/aim

This study represents the first report that evaluates the experience gathered from diagnosis, surgical treatment and outcome of insulinoma patients from Azerbaijan.

Materials and methods

We retrospectively review of insulinoma patients for a 10-year period. Collected data included patient demographics, laboratory and imaging tests, detailed surgical reports, histopathological examination of resected specimens, and clinical follow-up.

Results

Twenty-one insulinoma patients were identified. Male patients comprised 52.4%; mean age was 44 years. Mean time to diagnosis was 14 months; 61% patients had ≥3 medical referrals due to hypoglycemia-related symptoms. Diagnosis sensitivity of CT, MRI and US was 85%, 80%, and 55%, respectively. The mean glucose, insulin, C-peptide levels were 35.7 ± 9.5 mg/dL, 33.5 ± 21.9 µU/mL, and 3.74 ± 1.88 ng/mL, respectively. Pancreatic head and tail were the most frequent tumor locations; mean tumor size was 1.5 ± 0.7 cm. No statistical association was found between the tumor size and preoperative glucose, C-peptide and insulin levels. Distal pancreatectomy and enucleation were the most common surgical procedures. Local tumor recurrence rate was 14%. There was no mortality.

Conclusions

To prevent delayed diagnoses, physicians should be familiar with the typical symptoms of these rare tumors.