PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- A PET scan is accurate in diagnosing a type of congenital hyperinsulinism, a rare, severe imbalance of insulin levels in newborns, says a U.S. study.
When that disease is confined to a limited section of the baby's pancreas, the PET scan is 100-percent accurate in locating the lesion for curative, organ-sparing surgery, according to a research team from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
The researchers reported highly encouraging preliminary results from a study of 24 infants referred to the Hyperinsulinism Center at Children's Hospital between December 2004 and November 2005.
All the children had congenital hyperinsulinism that could not be controlled with medicine. If this condition goes uncontrolled, abnormally high insulin levels may cause irreversible brain damage, according to the study in the Journal of Pediatrics.
