Mesenchymal tumors associated with hypoglycemia: case report and review of the literature.

Hypoglycemia secondary to malignant tumors is rare. Mesenchymal tumors of nonpancreatic origin are the most common tumors associated with the hypoglycemia syndrome, and the clinical features of 115 reported cases are reviewed. The major anatomic distributions of the tumors are thoracic (30%) abdominal (65%), and uncommon locations (less than 5%). Approximately 50% of the tumors were resectable (59 patients), and in 60% the surgical procedure was curative. In the remaining 40% local recurrence predominated related to site of tumor and presence of contiguous organ invasion. The application of multimodality adjuvant therapy for hypoglycemia associated mesenchymal tumors should be based on an understanding of the natural history of the tumor.