Tumours of all histological varieties have long been recognised as being capable of inducing symptomatic hypoglycaemia (non-islet cell tumoral hypoglycaemia: NICTH) but, until recently, the mechanism by which they did so was unknown. The most common types of tumour involved are haemangiopericytomas, fibrosarcomas, and carcinomas of the gut, adrenal, breast or prostate although, in all but the first, hypoglycaemia is an extremely rare finding. In a minority, hypoglycaemia is the presenting symptom, and the symptomatology is indistinguishable from that of an insulinoma.
