A rare case report of reversible glucose counterregulation in an insulinoma patient with type 2 diabetes

Insulinoma is a neuroendocrine tumor derived from pancreatic β -cells whose clinical manifestation is recurrent hypoglycemia. Insulinoma in a patient with preexisting diabetes is extraordinarily rare, and the unmasking of type 2 diabetes (T₂DM) after insulinoma surgery is even rarer.

This article reports a 49-year-old male patient with insulinoma that masked the diagnosis of T₂DM. The patient was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of hypoglycemia, such as repeated sweating, palpitations, and asthenia for over 4 years. The patient was diagnosed with insulinoma after completing relevant examinations. The emergence of hyperglycemia after the removal of insulinoma is attributable to the coexistence of T₂DM. Surprisingly, a reversible decrease in cortisol levels was observed during the diagnostic process. We searched the previously published reports of this type of case from PubMed to determine why type 2 diabetes was covered by insulinoma and why glucocorticoids decreased.

The diagnosis of T₂DM in the patient after surgery may be related to increased food intake and insulin resistance induced by hyperinsulinemia caused by long-term hypoglycemia. The reversible decrease in cortisol levels, not adrenocortical insufficiency during the diagnostic process, may be caused by a transient abnormality in glucose counterregulation.