Laparoscopic surgery for pancreatic insulinomas: an update

Chrysanthi Aggeli, Alexander M. Nixon,Ioannis Karoumpalis, Gregory Kaltsas, George N. Zografos

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Insulinomas are the most common functioning neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas, occurring in almost 1-4 per 1 million persons each year. In contrast to other pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, they are usually benign and solitary at the time of diagnosis. Due to their benign nature, surgical excision is the treatment of choice, with excellent long-term results. The introduction of minimally invasive techniques in the surgical treatment of insulinoma has been gaining popularity …

Persistent hyperinsulinemic neonatal hypoglycemia caused by focal nesidioblastosis. Preoperative diagnosis by pancreatic venous sampling

Maria Maniati-Christidis, Fotini Psychou, Claire Nihoul-Fekete

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A female infant with persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia is described. Persistent euglycemia could not be achieved by diazoxide, somatostatin and frequent, low protein feeds. Preoperative localization of focal insulin hypersecretion by percutaneous pancreatic venous sampling allowed excision of only a small pancreatic portion which was followed by normalization of blood glucose levels …

Brunner’s missing “Aha experience” delayed progress in diabetes research by 200 years

Fritz S. Keck, Leonidas H. Duntas

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In 1889, the pancreatectomy performed on a dog by Joseph von Mehring and Oskar Minkowski led to the discovery of the pancreatic origin of diabetes disease. Already 200 years before, Johann Conrad Brunner had successfully performed eight pancreatectomies on dogs and had precisely described the symptoms of polyphagia, polyuria, and polydipsia…