There are many diverse causes of hypoglycemia, and medications, comorbidities and factitious causes should be investigated. Of all the potentially curable causes, insulinoma may be the most important diagnosis to make in the otherwise healthy patient. Most insulinomas are solitary and benign, but when present in patients with MEN1 multiple tumors are usually present. Hypoglycemia and endogenous hyperinsulinemia are diagnostic, but preoperatively may sometime require extensive testing to confirm the diagnosis. Localization of these tumors, is improving. Preoperative transabdominal ultrasound or CT may be sufficient prior to an initial operation for insulinoma, the former to localize the tumor and the later to identify potentially malignant or metastatic tumors. Reoperative cases may require extensive localizing tests to avoid further operative failure or the significant morbidity associated with completion pancreatectomy. Intraoperative ultrasound has so far proven to be unrivaled for localization of insulinoma as well as delineating anatomy, thus improving the success rate and possibly decreasing the already low postoperative complication rate for resection of these tumors. Excision of benign insulinomas leads to long-term cure.
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