A postmortem study of malignant glucagonoma with heart muscle hypertrophy, including chemical, histochemical, immunohistological and ultrastructural observations.

The autopsy findings in a 58 year old female with the typical glucagonoma syndrome with heart muscle hypertrophy are described. Despite remission of a skin rash and hyperglucagonemia following removal of metastatic liver tumors, the patient died of massive cerebral hemorrhage caused by uncontrolled hypertension and septic cerebral angiitis. On the basis of surgical and autopsy materials, the tumors in the pancreas and liver were defined as malignant glucagonoma by histological, histochemical, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural studies. The pathohistological changes in several organs that might be related to the hypersecretion of pancreatic glucagon are discussed.