Diagnosis and Treatment > Intervention > Resection of tumour

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Geetanjali Kale Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

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Elaine M Pelley Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

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Dawn Belt Davis Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

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Summary

Myelolipomas have been reported in patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). ACTH excess, as seen with non-adherence to glucocorticoid therapy, may be responsible for tumor development. We report a case of a 51-year-old man with classic salt-wasting CAH managed on prednisone 7.5 mg daily and fludrocortisone who presented with chronic back pain and was found to have giant bilateral retroperitoneal masses. On computed tomography (CT) imaging, the masses were heterogeneous, but contained predominantly low-density fat attenuation. The tumors were resected due to concern for malignancy and mass symptoms. Pathologic examination identified both retroperitoneal masses as myelolipomas. The left tumor was 34×20×13 cm and weighed 4.7 kg and the right tumor was 20 cm in the largest dimension. Adrenal tissue was present in the specimen. The patient reported long-term compliance with glucocorticoid treatment. However, no biochemical monitoring of ACTH levels had occurred. Therefore, it is unclear if ACTH excess contributed to the development of these large tumors in this patient. It was presumed that both adrenal glands were inadvertently removed during surgery and the patient was treated with physiologic replacement doses of hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone postoperatively. In this case, the bilateral adrenalectomy was inadvertent. However, adrenalectomy can be considered as a treatment option in patients with classical CAH under certain circumstances to avoid complications of glucocorticoid excess.

Learning points

  • Myelolipomas should be considered in the differential diagnosis of adrenal or retroperitoneal masses in patients with CAH.

  • On CT imaging, myelolipomas are seen as heterogeneous masses with low-density mature fat interspersed with more dense myeloid tissue.

  • Myelolipomas are usually unilateral and measure <4 cm; however, very large and bilateral tumors have been reported.

  • Treatment of CAH typically involves using supraphysiologic doses of glucocorticoid to suppress adrenal hyperandrogenism. Bilateral adrenalectomy is an alternative treatment option in patients with CAH.

  • There is an association between ACTH excess and increased incidence of adrenal myelolipoma but the direct causal link remains to be established.

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Marta Guimarães
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Pedro Rodrigues
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Sofia S Pereira Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology, Department of Anatomy, Multidisciplinary Unit for Biomedical Research (UMIB), Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, University of Porto (ICBAS/UP), Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal

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Mário Nora
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Gil Gonçalves
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Nicolai Wewer Albrechtsen NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research and Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

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Bolette Hartmann NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research and Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

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Jens Juul Holst NNF Center for Basic Metabolic Research and Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

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Mariana P Monteiro Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology, Department of Anatomy, Multidisciplinary Unit for Biomedical Research (UMIB), Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, University of Porto (ICBAS/UP), Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal
Endocrine Unit, Centro Hospitalar de Entre o Douro e Vouga, Rua Doutor Cândido Pinho, 4520-211, Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal

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Summary

Post-prandial hypoglycemia is frequently found after bariatric surgery. Although rare, pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNET), which occasionally are mixed hormone secreting, can lead to atypical clinical manifestations, including reactive hypoglycemia. Two years after gastric bypass surgery for the treatment of severe obesity, a 54-year-old female with previous type 2 diabetes, developed post-prandial sweating, fainting and hypoglycemic episodes, which eventually led to the finding by ultrasound of a 1.8-cm solid mass in the pancreatic head. The 72-h fast test and the plasma chromogranin A levels were normal but octreotide scintigraphy showed a single focus of abnormal radiotracer uptake at the site of the nodule. There were no other clinical signs of hormone secreting pNET and gastrointestinal hormone measurements were not performed. The patient underwent surgical enucleation with complete remission of the hypoglycemic episodes. Histopathology revealed a well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma with low-grade malignancy with positive chromogranin A and glucagon immunostaining. An extract of the resected tumor contained a high concentration of glucagon (26.707 pmol/g tissue), in addition to traces of GLP1 (471 pmol/g), insulin (139 pmol/g) and somatostatin (23 pmol/g). This is the first report of a GLP1 and glucagon co-secreting pNET presenting as hypoglycemia after gastric bypass surgery. Although pNET are rare, they should be considered in the differential diagnosis of the clinical approach to the post-bariatric surgery hypoglycemia patient.

Learning points

  • pNETs can be multihormonal-secreting, leading to atypical clinical manifestations.

  • Reactive hypoglycemic episodes are frequent after gastric bypass.

  • pNETs should be considered in the differential diagnosis of hypoglycemia after bariatric surgery.

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Avital Nahmias Neuroendocrine Tumor Unit, Endocrinology and Metabolism Service, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

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Simona Grozinsky-Glasberg Neuroendocrine Tumor Unit, Endocrinology and Metabolism Service, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

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Asher Salmon Department of Oncology, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Kiryat Hadassah, Jerusalem, POB 12000, 91120, Israel

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David J Gross Neuroendocrine Tumor Unit, Endocrinology and Metabolism Service, Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel

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Summary

Approximately 35% of the pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) are functional, the most common of which is an insulinoma. Rarely can initially nonfunctioning tumor undergo biological transformation to a hormone-secreting tumor with subsequent changes in the clinical picture. We present here three unique patients with long-standing pNETs who developed life-threatening hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia along with tumor progression. In two of the patients, everolimus (Afinitor) was administered in an attempt to control both tumor growth and hypoglycemia. In two cases everolimus therapy resulted in the abolishment of hypoglycemia and induced significant tumor regression; however these beneficial responses were transient. These cases highlight the exceptional ability of pNETs to change biological behavior in parallel with disease progression. Our experience concurs with recently published studies demonstrating the utility of everolimus for the control of both hypoglycemia and tumor progression.

Learning points

  • Nonfunctional pNET can gain new features such as insulin secretion with related morbidity.

  • Gain of function in a previously nonfunctional pNET signifies tumor progression and is usually associated with poor prognosis.

  • Everolimus proved to be a viable treatment for hypoglycemia in insulinoma patients and was also proven highly effective in the patients presented here.

  • As disease progresses, the effect of everolimus on hypoglycemia wanes. We report for the first time the development of hypoglycemia during everolimus treatment.

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Julien Ducry Services of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

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Fulgencio Gomez Services of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

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John O Prior Nuclear Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

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Ariane Boubaker Nuclear Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

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Maurice Matter Visceral Surgery, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

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Matteo Monti Internal Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

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Yan Pu Institute of Pathology, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, CH-1011, Switzerland

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Nelly Pitteloud Services of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

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Luc Portmann Services of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland

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Summary

Ectopic ACTH Cushing's syndrome (EAS) is often caused by neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) of lungs, pancreas, thymus, and other less frequent locations. Localizing the source of ACTH can be challenging. A 64-year-old man presented with rapidly progressing fatigue, muscular weakness, and dyspnea. He was in poor condition and showed facial redness, proximal amyotrophy, and bruises. Laboratory disclosed hypokalemia, metabolic alkalosis, and markedly elevated ACTH and cortisol levels. Pituitary was normal on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and bilateral inferior petrosal sinus blood sampling with corticotropin-releasing hormone stimulation showed no significant central-to-periphery gradient of ACTH. Head and neck, thoracic and abdominal computerized tomography (CT), MRI, somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SSRS), and 18F-deoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) failed to identify the primary tumor. 18F-dihydroxyphenylalanine (F-DOPA)-PET/CT unveiled a 20-mm nodule in the jejunum and a metastatic lymph node. Segmental jejunum resection showed two adjacent NETs, measuring 2.0 and 0.5 cm with a peritoneal metastasis. The largest tumor expressed ACTH in 30% of cells. Following surgery, after a transient adrenal insufficiency, ACTH and cortisol levels returned to normal values and remain normal over a follow-up of 26 months. Small mid-gut NETs are difficult to localize on CT or MRI, and require metabolic imaging. Owing to low mitotic activity, NETs are generally poor candidates for FDG-PET, whereas SSRS shows poor sensitivity in EAS due to intrinsically low tumor concentration of type-2 somatostatin receptors (SST2) or to receptor down regulation by excess cortisol. However, F-DOPA-PET, which is related to amine precursor uptake by NETs, has been reported to have high positive predictive value for occult EAS despite low sensitivity, and constitutes a useful alternative to more conventional methods of tumor localization.

Learning points

  • Uncontrolled high cortisol levels in EAS can be lethal if untreated.

  • Surgical excision is the keystone of NETs treatment, thus tumor localization is crucial.

  • Most cases of EAS are caused by NETs, which are located mainly in the lungs. However, small gut NETs are elusive to conventional imaging and require metabolic imaging for detection.

  • FDG-PET, based on tumor high metabolic rate, may not detect NETs that have low mitotic activity. SSRS may also fail, due to absent or low concentration of SST2, which may be down regulated by excess cortisol.

  • F-DOPA-PET, based on amine-precursor uptake, can be a useful method to localize the occult source of ACTH in EAS when other methods have failed.

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Jingjing Jiang Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, People's Republic of China

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Mei Zhang Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, People's Republic of China

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Ronghua He Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 300 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, 210029, People's Republic of China

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Meiping Shen Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, People's Republic of China

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Wei Liu Department of Nuclear Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, People's Republic of China

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Summary

Functional parathyroid cysts are a rare cause of primary hyperparathyroidism and are often mistaken for thyroid cysts. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is also a very rare cause of hypercalcemia. We report the case of a 62-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with SLE 30 years ago, presenting with clinical and biochemical features of primary hyperparathyroidism. Laboratory investigation revealed increased serum calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels; neck ultrasonography (USG) revealed 40×34×26 mm cystic mass in the left lobe of thyroid gland. PTH level in the cysts was >2500 pg/ml, determined by USG-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA). In this case, no evidence for potential pathogenic association between parathyroid cyst and SLE was uncovered. However, the recognition of this association is very important because the therapeutical strategy is completely different. Operative management is usually straightforward and alleviates symptoms and any biochemical abnormalities caused by the cyst.

Learning points

  • Functional parathyroid cysts are the rare cause of primary hyperparathyroidism and are often mistaken for thyroid cysts.

  • SLE is also a very rare cause of hypercalcemia.

  • Ultrasound-guided FNA of cystic fluid with assay for PTH level is an accurate method of differentiating parathyroid cyst from thyroid cyst.

  • Appropriate management of functional parathyroid cysts is surgical excision.

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