Successful long-term treatment with once-daily injection of low-dose octreotide in an aged patient with insulinoma

The patient was an 83-year-old woman who was admitted to our hospital for evaluation and treatment of chronic hypoglycemia that was first identified 3 years earlier. Serum insulin and C-peptide levels were both elevated during hypoglycemia. Contrast abdominal computed tomography revealed a tumor in the body of the pancreas with blushing during the early phase, and insulinoma was diagnosed. The patient declined surgery because of advanced age, so treatment was started with octreotide, a somatostatin analogue. Hypoglycemia has been successfully controlled with low-dose, once-daily octreotide over 33 months. Few reports have described long-term octreotide administration for benign insulinoma. Moreover, this case is interesting from the perspective of hypoglycemic control using only low-dose, once-daily octreotide. Although somatostatin may induce hypoglycemia in insulinoma, treatment may be useful in patients who are not candidates for surgery, provided that careful monitoring is maintained.