OBJECTIVE: To describe the prognosis of persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy, submitted or not to pancreatectomy. DATA SOURCES: Databases Medline and Ovid were searched for studies published in the last ten years with the expression "hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia". Manuscripts about the prognosis of patients with persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy (zero to ten years) were analyzed, in order to do a systematic review. DATA SYNTHESIS: Two hundred sixty-nine publications were identified, and 13 had information about the prognosis of the persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy, including eight studies of patients submitted to pancreatectomy. The main factor associated with the prognosis was the neurological status. In the analyzed studies, the incidence of neurological development delay varied from 10 to 70%, depending on the sample and on the age of onset. Among children submitted to pancreatectomy in order to treat the hypoglycemia, the main factors that influenced prognosis were the characteristics and the extension of the pancreatic injury. Focal injuries caused significantly less complications that the diffuse injuries. The incidence of diabetes mellitus after a partial or subtotal pancreatectomy varied from 25 to 100%, depending on the patients evaluated in each study. CONCLUSIONS: The timing of symptoms onset influences directly the severity of the neurological status and the prognosis. In the patients submitted to pancreatectomy, the characteristics of the pancreatic injury determine the extent of the consequences.
hypoglycemia; hyperinsulinism; prognosis