Missed case of pancreatogenic diabetes diagnosed using ultrasound

Abstract

Nonalcoholic pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus (type 3c DM) is an often-misdiagnosed entity usually seen in young men of tropical countries. Although most of the patients present with abdominal pain and symptoms of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, there is still a subset that does not present with these classical symptoms, which emphasizes the need for special diagnostic considerations. The significance of identifying this subset of diabetic lies not only in the change in management of the disease but also in early detection for pancreatic carcinoma that is more common among those patients. In our case, ultrasound with X-ray played a vital role in diagnosis, prompting us to consider it as an essential part of the investigation panel in all newly diagnosed nonobese diabetic individuals.

Keywords

• fibrocalculous pancreatic diabetes
• nonalcoholic pancreatogenic diabetes mellitus
• tropical pancreatic diabetes