Perioperative glycemia regulation for insulinoma surgery: Challenges faced by the anaesthesiologist

Insulinoma represents a benign, insulin-secreting neuroendocrine tumor of the beta cells of islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, which leads to frequent episodes of hypoglycemia. Surgery is the definite treatment. However, the perioperative treatment of patients with insulinoma is highly challengin...

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Main Authors: Mihalek Nora, Starčević Sanja, Erdoes Gabor, Radovanović Dragana
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institute of Oncology, Sremska Kamenica, Serbia 2025-01-01
Series:Archive of Oncology
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Online Access:https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-7310/2025/0354-73102501039M.pdf
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author Mihalek Nora
Starčević Sanja
Erdoes Gabor
Radovanović Dragana
author_facet Mihalek Nora
Starčević Sanja
Erdoes Gabor
Radovanović Dragana
author_sort Mihalek Nora
collection DOAJ
description Insulinoma represents a benign, insulin-secreting neuroendocrine tumor of the beta cells of islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, which leads to frequent episodes of hypoglycemia. Surgery is the definite treatment. However, the perioperative treatment of patients with insulinoma is highly challenging. We present the perioperative management of a 46-year-old obese male patient with insulinoma. As the patient reported frequent severe hypoglycemia episodes, the main priority of the perioperative treatment was to prevent hypoglycemia before tumor resection and to control rebound hyperglycemia after tumor removal. Maintaining normoglycemia was challenging during the regular fasting period before abdominal surgery, as well as during the intervention, as general anaesthesia masks the symptoms of hypoglycemia. Obesity further complicated the anaesthetic management, due to expected difficult airway management and central venous access. Glycemia was monitored in 15-minute intervals during surgery and in 30-minute intervals postoperatively, and dysglycemia was corrected according to the trend of variations. As insulinoma is a rare phenomenon with an unpredictable clinical course, current reportings regarding the anaesthetic management of patients with this pathology are relatively lacking. Therefore, our case report could contribute to expanding the limited data about the perioperative treatment of patients with this condition.
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publishDate 2025-01-01
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spelling doaj-art-19d0f71805de48dc83ed0853f7d937f42025-08-20T02:58:19ZengInstitute of Oncology, Sremska Kamenica, SerbiaArchive of Oncology0354-73101450-95202025-01-01311394210.2298/AOO250202002M0354-73102501039MPerioperative glycemia regulation for insulinoma surgery: Challenges faced by the anaesthesiologistMihalek Nora0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0819-1932Starčević Sanja1Erdoes Gabor2Radovanović Dragana3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5071-7929Oncology Institute of Vojvodina, Department for Anesthesiology with Reanimatology, Sremska Kamenica, SerbiaOncology Institute of Vojvodina, Department for Anesthesiology with Reanimatology, Sremska Kamenica, SerbiaUniversity of Bern, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Bern, SwitzerlandOncology Institute of Vojvodina, Department for Anesthesiology with Reanimatology, Sremska Kamenica, SerbiaInsulinoma represents a benign, insulin-secreting neuroendocrine tumor of the beta cells of islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, which leads to frequent episodes of hypoglycemia. Surgery is the definite treatment. However, the perioperative treatment of patients with insulinoma is highly challenging. We present the perioperative management of a 46-year-old obese male patient with insulinoma. As the patient reported frequent severe hypoglycemia episodes, the main priority of the perioperative treatment was to prevent hypoglycemia before tumor resection and to control rebound hyperglycemia after tumor removal. Maintaining normoglycemia was challenging during the regular fasting period before abdominal surgery, as well as during the intervention, as general anaesthesia masks the symptoms of hypoglycemia. Obesity further complicated the anaesthetic management, due to expected difficult airway management and central venous access. Glycemia was monitored in 15-minute intervals during surgery and in 30-minute intervals postoperatively, and dysglycemia was corrected according to the trend of variations. As insulinoma is a rare phenomenon with an unpredictable clinical course, current reportings regarding the anaesthetic management of patients with this pathology are relatively lacking. Therefore, our case report could contribute to expanding the limited data about the perioperative treatment of patients with this condition.https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-7310/2025/0354-73102501039M.pdfinsulinomaglycemiaanaesthetic managementcase report
spellingShingle Mihalek Nora
Starčević Sanja
Erdoes Gabor
Radovanović Dragana
Perioperative glycemia regulation for insulinoma surgery: Challenges faced by the anaesthesiologist
Archive of Oncology
insulinoma
glycemia
anaesthetic management
case report
title Perioperative glycemia regulation for insulinoma surgery: Challenges faced by the anaesthesiologist
title_full Perioperative glycemia regulation for insulinoma surgery: Challenges faced by the anaesthesiologist
title_fullStr Perioperative glycemia regulation for insulinoma surgery: Challenges faced by the anaesthesiologist
title_full_unstemmed Perioperative glycemia regulation for insulinoma surgery: Challenges faced by the anaesthesiologist
title_short Perioperative glycemia regulation for insulinoma surgery: Challenges faced by the anaesthesiologist
title_sort perioperative glycemia regulation for insulinoma surgery challenges faced by the anaesthesiologist
topic insulinoma
glycemia
anaesthetic management
case report
url https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0354-7310/2025/0354-73102501039M.pdf
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AT starcevicsanja perioperativeglycemiaregulationforinsulinomasurgerychallengesfacedbytheanaesthesiologist
AT erdoesgabor perioperativeglycemiaregulationforinsulinomasurgerychallengesfacedbytheanaesthesiologist
AT radovanovicdragana perioperativeglycemiaregulationforinsulinomasurgerychallengesfacedbytheanaesthesiologist