European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

A CASE OF PLEURAL MASS PRESENTING WITH SHORTNESS OF BREATH AND REFRACTORY NON-INSULIN MEDIATED HYPOGLYCEMIA

*Soumyabrata Roy Chaudhuri, Amitabha Chakrabarti, Subhayan Bhattacharya and Kingshuk Bhattacharjee

ABSTRACT

We report a typical case of an 80 years old male presented with severe hypoglycemia complaining of shortness of breath for the last five-six months. On investigation, he was found to have a right sided pleural mass. The patient’s plain chest radiography also showed large opacity in his right hemi-thorax. His contrast-enhanced chest computed tomography (CT) revealed a lobulated mass in his right hemi-thorax. Doege-Potter Syndrome is a paraneoplastic syndrome characterized by hypoinsulinaemic hypoglycemia secondary to a solitary fibrous tumor especially in pleural cavity. This syndrome is caused by production of insulin like growth factor II (IGF-II) by the tumor cells. Although DPS is very rare, its possibility must be considered in cases of refractory hypoglycemia.

Keywords: Doege-Potter Syndrome, pleural mass, paraneoplastic syndrome, hypoinsulinaemic hypoglycemia.