Non-diabetic hypoglycemia - Symptoms, Causes, Images, and Treatment Options

Diseases

Highlights & Basics

Key Highlights

Non-diabetic hypoglycemia may commonly present with symptoms such as nausea, confusion, tremor, sweating, palpitations, or hunger. Patients may present with a nonspecific clinical history.
Documentation of a blood glucose <60 mg/dL with accompanying symptoms is crucial to diagnosing clinically significant hypoglycemia.
Important causes to consider are iatrogenic or factitious hypoglycemia secondary to insulin or sulfonylurea use. Another common cause may be physiological reactive hypoglycemia. However, the most worrisome causes are insulinoma and tumor-related hypoglycemia.
Preferred treatment for an insulinoma is surgical excision.

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Citations

Key Articles

Vihonen H, Kuisma M, Nurmi J. Hypoglycaemia without diabetes encountered by emergency medical services: a retrospective cohort study. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2018 Feb 1;26(1):12.[Abstract][Full Text]
Kittah NE, Vella A. Management of endocrine disease: pathogenesis and management of hypoglycemia. Eur J Endocrinol. 2017 Jul;177(1):R37-47.[Abstract][Full Text]
Kandaswamy L, Raghavan R, Pappachan JM. Spontaneous hypoglycemia: diagnostic evaluation and management. Endocrine. 2016 Jul;53(1):47-57.[Abstract]
Falconi M, Eriksson B, Kaltsas G, et al. ENETS consensus guidelines update for the management of patients with functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Neuroendocrinology. 2016;103(2):153-71.[Abstract][Full Text]

Referenced Articles

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