2014 Volume 57 Issue 12 Pages 907-912
A 78-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital with severe hypoglycemia. Her serum IRI level was moderately high, and computed tomography revealed a large lung tumor. She was subsequently diagnosed with non-islet cell tumor hypoglycemia (NICTH) following the identification of a high serum IGF-II level on Western immunoblotting. Surgical treatment for the lung tumor was not feasible due to the patient's general status, and managing the hypoglycemia was difficult based on the required large volume of glucose infusion. We therefore started her on glucocorticoid therapy and evaluated the treatment effect using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). Consequently, the hypoglycemia disappeared immediately and the blood glucose level became stable, with no increases in the serum IGF-I level or decreases in the serum IGF-II level. This case suggests that steroid therapy is effective for inoperable NICTH cases and that CGM is useful for evaluating the effects of this therapy.
