Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Dog with stomach tumor causing low blood sugar seizures
By Boari, A et al.·Published in European journal of endocrinology·1995·Istituto di Patologí, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Hypoglycemia in a dog with a leiomyoma of the gastric wall producing an insulin-like growth factor II-like peptide.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A 12-year-old male mixed-breed dog was experiencing recurrent seizures caused by low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). After testing, it was found that a large tumor in his stomach was producing a substance that mimicked insulin, leading to these dangerous drops in blood sugar. The dog underwent surgery to remove the tumor, which weighed about 1.7 pounds, and this procedure successfully stopped the seizures and resolved the hypoglycemia. Following the surgery, his insulin levels returned to normal, and he no longer experienced seizures.
People also search for: dog seizures low blood sugar · mixed-breed dog tumor surgery · hypoglycemia treatment in dogs
Abstract
A 12-year-old mixed-breed male dog was referred to the Clinica Medica Veterinaria of Bologna University for recurrent episodes of seizures due to hypoglycemia with abnormally low plasma insulin levels (18 pmol/l). Resection of a large leiomyoma (780 g) of the gastric wall resulted in a permanent resolution of the hypoglycemic episodes. Insulin-like growth factors I and II (IGF-I and -II) were measured by RIA in serum before and after surgery and in tumor tissue. Results were compared to the serum concentration of 54 normal and to the tissue concentration observed in eight non-hypoglycemic dog gastric wall extracts. Before surgery, circulating immunoreactive IGF-I was 0.92 nmol/l, which is significantly lower than the control values (16.92 +/- 8.44 nmol/l, range 3.53-35.03), while IGF-II was 152 nmol/l, which is significantly higher than the control values (42.21 +/- 3.75, range 31.99-50.74). After surgery, IGF-I increased to 6.80 nmol/l while IGF-II decreased to 45.52 nmol/l. Tumor tissue IGF-II concentration was higher than normal (5.66 nmol/kg tissue as compared to a range in normal gastric wall tissue of 1.14-3.72 nmol/kg), while IGF-I was 0.08 nmol/kg tissue, which is close to the lowest normal value (range in controls, 0.08-1.18 nmol/kg). Partial characterization of IGF-II immunoreactivity extracted from tissue evidenced a molecular weight similar to that of mature IGF-II, thus excluding that peptide released by the tumor is a precursor molecule.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7788016/