{"title":"Postprandial reactive hypoglycaemia in a very old patient.","authors":"C Deliens, Cl Losseau, B Vandeleene, B Boland","doi":"10.1179/2295333714Y.0000000026","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective and importance: </strong>Postprandial reactive hypoglycaemia (PRH) is a clinical syndrome characterized by the recurrence of symptomatic hypoglycaemia during postprandial periods. PRH remains a diagnostic challenge for clinicians, because of its atypical manifestations and low prevalence, especially in older persons.</p><p><strong>Clinical presentation: </strong>We report the diagnostic work-up of severe hypoglycaemic episodes in a very old patient in whom the diagnosis of PRH was made.</p><p><strong>Intervention: </strong>We prescribed acarbose, an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, to this patient to prevent the recurrence of hypoglycaemic episodes. Four years later, acarbose was always used and no further episode of hypoglycaemia had occurred. Based on the literature, we discuss the limited value of endocrine tests as well as the efficacy of the therapeutic approaches.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Prescription of acarbose is useful in addition to nutritional education, the corner stone of the treatment, to avoid the recurrence of severe hypoglycaemic events due to PRH.</p>","PeriodicalId":48865,"journal":{"name":"Acta Clinica Belgica","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1000,"publicationDate":"2014-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1179/2295333714Y.0000000026","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Acta Clinica Belgica","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1179/2295333714Y.0000000026","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2014/6/10 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Objective and importance: Postprandial reactive hypoglycaemia (PRH) is a clinical syndrome characterized by the recurrence of symptomatic hypoglycaemia during postprandial periods. PRH remains a diagnostic challenge for clinicians, because of its atypical manifestations and low prevalence, especially in older persons.
Clinical presentation: We report the diagnostic work-up of severe hypoglycaemic episodes in a very old patient in whom the diagnosis of PRH was made.
Intervention: We prescribed acarbose, an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, to this patient to prevent the recurrence of hypoglycaemic episodes. Four years later, acarbose was always used and no further episode of hypoglycaemia had occurred. Based on the literature, we discuss the limited value of endocrine tests as well as the efficacy of the therapeutic approaches.
Conclusion: Prescription of acarbose is useful in addition to nutritional education, the corner stone of the treatment, to avoid the recurrence of severe hypoglycaemic events due to PRH.
期刊介绍:
Acta Clinica Belgica: International Journal of Clinical and Laboratory Medicine primarily publishes papers on clinical medicine, clinical chemistry, pathology and molecular biology, provided they describe results which contribute to our understanding of clinical problems or describe new methods applicable to clinical investigation. Readership includes physicians, pathologists, pharmacists and physicians working in non-academic and academic hospitals, practicing internal medicine and its subspecialties.