Difficult diagnosis and localization of focal nesidioblastosis: clinical implications of 68Gallium-DOTA-D-Phe1-Tyr3-octreotide PET scanning

Focal nesidioblastosis is a rare cause of endogenous hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia in adults. Because it is difficult to localize and detect with current imaging modalities, nesidioblastosis is challenging for biliary-pancreatic surgeons. (68)Gallium-DOTA-D-Phe(1)-Tyr(3)-octreotide PET scanning and (111)indium-pentetreotide diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid octreotide scanning may be superior to conventional imaging modalities in determining the localization of nesidioblastosis. We report the successful surgical treatment of a 54-year-old woman with focal hyperplasia of the islets of Langerhans, who experienced frequent hypoglycemic symptoms and underwent various diagnostic examinations with different results.