Hypoglycemia in a Patient With a Fibrous Tumor

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Abstract
It now is well known that patients with large tumors of mesenchymal and sometimes of epithelial origin may have severe hypoglycemia.1In spite of intensive study, however, there still is no general agreement concerning the mechanism by which such tumors produce hypoglycemia. Previously, we reported a patient in whom hypoglycemia had been associated with a massive intra-abdominal mesothelial cell sarcoma.2Production of an "insulin-like" factor by the tumor could not be demonstrated, and indirect evidence suggested that excessive glucose consumption by the tumor was the underlying cause of the hypoglycemia. Since the tumor had been frozen before study, our failure to demonstrate active glucose uptake by slices of tumor could not be considered conclusive. We now have had the opportunity to study fresh tumor slices from another patient with this interesting condition and to carry out certain studies not available to us at the time of the previous

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