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CASE REPORT article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Neuroendocrine Science
Volume 15 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1405835
Non-functional alpha-cell hyperplasia with glucagon-producing NET: A case report
Provisionally accepted- 1 Centro Hospitalar do Tâmega e Sousa, Penafiel, Portugal
- 2 IPO-Porto Research Centre, Portuguese Oncology Institute, Porto, Porto, Portugal
- 3 Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil, Porto, Portugal
- 4 Braga Local Health Unit, Braga, Braga, Portugal
- 5 Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
- 6 University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Alpha-cell hyperplasia (ACH) is a rare pancreatic endocrine condition. Three types of ACH have been described: functional or nonglucagonoma hyperglucagonemic glucagonoma syndrome, reactive or secondary to defective glucagon signaling and non-functional. Few cases of ACH with concomitant pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (pNET) have been reported and its aetiology remains poorly understood. A case report of non-functional ACH with glucagon-producing NET is herein presented.A 72-year-old male was referred to our institution for a 2 cm single pNET incidentally found during imaging workout for acute cholecystitis. Patient past medical history included type 2 diabetes (T2D) diagnosed 12 years earlier, for which he was under metformin, dapagliflozin and semaglutide. The pNET was clinically and biochemically non-functioning, apart from mildly elevated glucagon 217 pg/ml (<209), and 68 Ga-SSTR PET/CT positive uptake was only found at the pancreatic tail (SUVmax 11.45). The patient underwent a caudal pancreatectomy and the post-operative 68 Ga-SSTR PET/CT was negative. A multifocal well-differentiated NET G1, pT1N0M0R0 (mf) strongly staining for glucagon on a background neuroendocrine alpha-cell hyperplasia with some degree of acinar fibrosis, was identified on pathology analysis.This case reports the incidental finding of a clinically non-functioning pNET in a patient with T2D and elevated glucagon levels, unexpectedly diagnosed as glucagon-producing NET and ACH. A high level of suspicion was required to conduct the glucagon immunostaining, which is not part of the pathology routine for a clinically non-functioning pNET, and was key for the diagnosis that otherwise would have been missed. This case highlights, the need for considering the diagnosis of glucagon-producing pNET on an ACH background, even in the absence of glucagonoma syndrome.
Keywords: Alpha-cell, Hyperplasia, Neuroendocrine Tumors, glucagon-producing NET, Pancreas
Received: 23 Mar 2024; Accepted: 08 Aug 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Cidade-Rodrigues, Santos, Calheiros, Santos, Matos, Moreira, Inácio, Souteiro, Oliveira, Jácome, Pereira, Henrique, Torres and Monteiro. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mariana P. Monteiro, University of Porto, Porto, 4099-002, Portugal
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