HIFU Now Used for Tx of Inoperable Insulinomas

Background: Insulinomas are neuroendocrine tumors that usually originate in the pancreas. The therapy of choice is surgical resection or enucleation, but sometimes because of the location, the lesion is inoperable. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a technique where ultrasound beams that destroy the tissue are aimed precisely at a particular location, and it requires no needle placement. Objective: To present 2 case reports of insulinomas being treated with HIFU. Case Discussion: The first case was a 44-year-old woman with type II diabetes mellitus, who had a 7.5-cm insulinoma with severe nightly hypoglycemia. HIFU was performed on the main pancreatic lesion, and she no longer had hypoglycemic episodes in the 10-month follow-up. The second case was a 43-year-old woman with Von-Hippel-Lindau disease, who developed an insulinoma in the pancreatic body. She had a left partial pancreatectomy at that time. Eight years later, the pancreatic tumor recurred. The 2.4-cm lesion in th more...