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Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Glucagonoma is an extremely rare neuroendocrine tumor that arises from pancreatic islet alpha cells. Although glucagonoma is usually accompanied by a variety of characteristic clinical symptoms, early diagnosis is still difficult due to the scarcity of the disease. In this study, we present the cumulative experiences, clinical characteristics and treatments of seven patients diagnosed with glucagonoma during the past 10 years at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University. The seven patients in our cohort consisted of six females and one male with an average diagnosis age of 40.1 years (range 23-51). The average time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis of glucagonoma was 14 months (range 2-36 months). All the patients visited dermatology first for necrolytic migratory erythema (NME) 7/7 (100%), and other presenting symptoms included diabetes mellitus (DM) 4/7 (57%), stomatitis 2/7 (28%), weight loss 4/7 (57%), anemia 4/7 (57%), diarrhea 1/7 (14%), and DVT1/7 (14%). Plasma glucagon levels were increased in all patients (range 216.92-3155 pg/mL) and declined after surgery. Imaging studies revealed that four of seven patients had liver metastasis. Six of seven patients received surgical resection, and all of them received somatostatin analog therapy. Symptoms improved significantly in 6 out of 7 patients. Three of seven patients died of this disease by the time of follow-up. Our data suggest that if persistent NME is associated with DM and high glucagon levels, timely abdominal imaging should be performed to confirm glucagonoma. Once diagnosed, surgery and somatostatin analogs are effective for symptom relief and tumor control., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Rationale: Glucagonoma is a rare neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas. Glucagonoma syndrome is often misdiagnosed as other skin lesions by clinicians due to a typical clinical sign of necrolytic migratory erythema (NME) with severe erythematous rash., Patient Concerns: A 48-year-old female patient was admitted to our department because she presented with unclear recurrent severe erythematous rash. The patient was diagnosed as skin disease., Diagnoses: Histopathologic examination revealed a pancreatic glucagonoma. Immnohistochemical staining of tumor tissue was positive for glucagon., Interventions: The distal pancreatectomy plus splenectomy was performed in 2017., Outcomes: The skin lesions disappeared after surgery. She was followed up and showed no recurrence until now., Lessons: Clinicians should consider the diagnosis of glucagonoma according to the typical initial symptoms. Early diagnosis is very important to provide a better prognosis. A multidisciplinary approach is effective in patients with unresectable metastatic tumors.

Necrolytic migratory erythema (NEM) is associated with glucagonoma, an endocrine malignancy of the pancreas. It is a rare and a likely underrecognized paraneoplastic dermatitis. A 38-year-old woman presented to our clinic with a 3-year history of reocurring pruritic skin rashes with increasing intensity. The skin lesions presented with active annular borders, central scaling, and postinflammatory hyperpigmentation, but also with erosions, pustules, and crusted lesions. Multiple skin biopsies were taken. The workup of the patient revealed a tumor localized in the head of the pancreas, and glucagon serum levels were elevated. Clues to the diagnosis of NEM were the waxing and waning of serpiginous erythemas with active borders localized on extremities, intertriginous areas, and face. On histopathology, dyskeratosis in all layers of the epidermis were an early feature of NEM, and long-standing lesions typically showed psoriasiform hyperplasia with pallor and necrosis of upper epidermal layers. Clinicians and histopathologists need to be aware of the wide spectrum of skin manifestations in glucagonoma. Early diagnosis of the tumor is crucial for patients.

Necrolytic migratory erythema is considered an obligatory cutaneous paraneoplastic sign associated with glucagonoma. Glucagonoma syndrome is defined by the presence of an alpha-cell secreting tumor of the pancreas, elevated levels of glucagon, and a characteristic rash called necrolytic migratory erythema. Although necrolytic migratory erythema is a specific finding in glucagonoma syndrome, it may occur in other settings, unassociated with an alpha-cell pancreatic tumor (pseudoglucagonoma syndrome). The rarity of glucagonoma imposes a challenge, with most patients being diagnosed after a long period of treatment for their skin rash. The main prognostic sign of glucagonoma are the subsequent metastases that come late in the course of the disease. Herein, we present a 55-year-old female patient with a 5-year history of unrecognized cutaneous and systemic manifestations of glucagonoma syndrome. Based on the investigations, the diagnosis of glucagonoma syndrome without metastases was established. After surgical removal of pancreatic carcinoma/glucagonoma, complete healing and a long disease-free period was achieved. Appropriate awareness of the characteristics of necrolytic migratory erythema in physicians/dermatologists often leads to an early diagnosis of glucagonoma syndrome and enhances the chances of a favorable outcome.

We report a 48-year-old woman with a past medical history of psoriasis, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and type II diabetes mellitus, who presented to the emergency department with a 1 week history of erosive annular plaques with associated atrophy and telangiectasias on her legs bilaterally, thighs and buttock, histopathologically consistent with necrolytic migratory erythema. Although classically associated with a pancreatic glucagonoma, this patient experienced this figurate erythema in the setting of fatty liver disease with no glucagonoma. The rarity of pseudoglucagonoma syndrome, or necrolytic migratory erythema occurring in the absence of a glucagonoma, warranted the discussion of this case.

Necrolytic migratory erythema is a rare paraneoplastic dermatosis that may be the first clinical manifestation of the glucagonoma syndrome, a disorder characterized by mucocutaneous rash, glucose intolerance, hypoaminoacidemia, hyperglucagonaemia and pancreatic glucagonoma. The clinical case of a 45-year-old woman is presented. She had been experiencing weight loss, polydipsia, polyphagia, postprandial emesis, excessive hair loss and abdominal pain for two months. Erythematous, scaly and migratory plaques with 20 days of evolution were found on her trunk, perineum, elbows, hands, feet, inframammary and antecubital folds. The skin biopsy revealed noticeable vacuolar changes in high epidermal cells, extensive necrosis and thin orthokeratotic cornified layer. These findings pointed to a diagnosis of necrolytic migratory erythema. A suggestion was made to investigate a pancreatic glucagonoma. Laboratory tests showed moderate anemia, hyperglycemia and marked hyperglucagonaemia. Abdominal ultrasound revealed a mass in the tail of the pancreas measuring 6 x 5 x 5 cm which was resected. The histopathological findings were compatible with a diagnosis of glucagonoma, as confirmed by immunohistochemistry. Skin symptoms disappeared 10 days after the tumor resection. We can conclude that the histological changes defined may be clues that can lead the search for a distant skin disease and allow for its diagnosis. The histological pattern of vacuolation and epidermal necrosis should arouse suspicion of pancreatic glucagonoma.

Introduction: glucagonoma is a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor derived from alpha-cells of the islets of Langerhans. It is marked by tumoral autonomous production of glucagon and characterized, among other symptoms, by necrolytic migratory erythema, an erythematous circinate lesion with areas of necrosis and sloughing. This is a rare disease with worldwide incidence estimated at 1 case per 20 million people., Case Report: we report a case of glucagonoma associated necrolytic migratory erythema in a male patient, 56 years, with signs of skin lesions mainly on his legs and groin, hyperglycemia and weight loss. Biopsies of the skin lesions were performed and imaging of the abdomen showed a mass of 10 x 9 cm, at the pancreatic region. The patient was subjected to body-caudal pancreatectomy and splenectomy with autotransplant of the spleen in the greater omentum. The histopathologic report indicated a tumor in the pancreatic alpha cells. Immunohistochemistry showed expression of glucagon and chromogranin A in most tumor cells, consistent with the diagnosis of glucagonoma. The patient presented 3 years of outpatient follow-up with no complications., Conclusion: the necrolytic migratory erythema is important for the clinical recognition of glucagonoma, and its early diagnosis is essential for a successful curative therapy.