MEDICAL ASPECTS OF HYPOGLYCEMIA

Abstract

THIS paper is devoted to a general discussion of the various types of hypoglycemia, with a report of representative cases. Elsewhere (1) an effort has been made to separate hyperinsulinism. from all other causes of hypoglycemia. The term “hyperinsulinisin” should be reserved for those patients in whom a hyperfunctioning tumor of the islets of Langerhans has been demonstrated, or who have received an injection of an excessive amount of insulin. Many other causes of hypoglycemia will be found in the classification by Conn (2) (Table 1), some of which are discussed later in the paper. The term “functional hypoglycemia” as defined by him (2) refers to a disturbance in the nervous regulation of the concentration of blood sugar, manifested by hypoglycemic symptoms following meals of average or high carbohydrate content in a patient with increased emotional instability. Throughout this paper, the values given for blood sugar were determined by the Folin-Wu method.