Normal growth after administration of octreotide: report on a case of persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy treated by continuous subcutaneous injection of octreotide.

PERSISTENT hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy is a disease characterized clinically by persistent hypoglycemia with inappropriately high circulating insulin concentrations. Nesidioblastosis is a diffuse abnormality of the pancreas in which there is extensive, often disorganized formation of new islets, and is known to cause hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia [1, 2]. Diazoxide can suppress hyperinsulinemia but has serious side effects [3]. Successful treatment with octreotide, a long-acting somatostatin analogue, was reported but it involves the possibility of suppresion of GH [4-6]. Here we report a case of persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia in a male infant who was treated by continuous subcutaneous injection of octreotide for 4 months, and on the course of his growth and development.