Differential diagnosis of tumour-associated hypoglycaemia in small animals

Effect of diazoxide on a cat with insulinoma

Case summary

The patient was a castrated male American Shorthair cat, approximately 14 years old, weighing 3.4 kg. The patient had chronic kidney disease (CKD) (International Renal Interest Society stages 3-4) as an underlying disease. The cat was examined at a hospital for intermittent lethargy and seizures. Hypoglycaemia was repeatedly observed, and the insulin level was 1.78 ng/ml (reference interval 0.27-0.69) when the blood glucose was 49 mg/dl. Although the cat was tentatively diagnosed with insulinoma, surgery was not recommended because of the severe CKD. Although frequent feeding and prednisolone treatment were initially attempted, blood glucose decreased to 24-42 mg/dl. Diazoxide was additionally prescribed at a dose of 5.2 mg/kg q12h. The cat's clinical signs improved, and the blood glucose was in the range of 75-103 mg/dl during the first 2 months. It was maintained at >50 mg/dl until the patient died of renal failure 161 days after the start of diazoxide treatment. With regard to adverse events, vomiting once every 2-3 days without weight loss and non-regenerative anaemia were observed, which might have been at least partially caused by diazoxide treatment. An insulinoma was definitively diagnosed via pathological autopsy.

Relevance and novel information

This is the first reported case of long-term treatment with diazoxide in a cat with insulinoma. Since it was effective in situations where conventional therapies were unsuccessful, diazoxide could be useful as a new therapeutic option for cats with insulinoma. Since adverse events, such as progression of vomiting frequency and non-regenerative anaemia, were observed, careful monitoring was required during administration.