Paroxysmal hyperinsulinism due to islet-cell tumour of the pancreas

Spontaneous Hyperinsulinism Due to Islet-cell Adenoma

“…Apart from Nicholls's early pathological observation, the first report is that of Barnard (1932), who found an islet-cell adenoma at the post-mortem examination of a patient in whom the diagnosis had been suspected clinically but who had declined further investigation or operation; postmortem reports have also been published by Cairns and Tanner (1933), Lawrence et al (1942), Webster and Blades (1952), and Cunningham et al (1952). The first successful operative removal of an adenoma in Great Britain seems to be that reported by Fraser et al (1938), and nine other reports of single cases successfully treated by operation have subsequently been published (Rudd and Walton, 1941-2;Rayner and Rogerson, 1943 ;Haines, 1946;Dickie, 1946;Holmes et al, 1946;Bishton and Malins, 1947;Murray, 1949;Wood, 1951;Smith and Cochran, 1952);and Cohen (1950) has recorded two cases. There has also been a single report of an islet-cell carcinoma with liver metastases (Brearley and Laws, 1950), and one case in which attacks of spontaneous hypoglycaemia were thought to be caused by diffuse hyperplasia of the islet cells without tumour formation (Graham and Oakley, 1950).…”