[Sinus bradycardia in chronic neuroglycopenic syndrome. A case of "short intestine" syndrome].

: The clinical pattern of the chronic hypoglycemic disorders is different from that of the acute disorders. While in acute hypoglycemic syndromes tachycardia usually occurs, in chronic hypoglycemic disorders there is, even if seldom, sinusal bradycardia. The bradycardia occurs after months with glycemia under 60 mg/dl and may be correlated to the neuroglycopenic state. It is easily reversible when plasma glucose concentration approaches the normal range again. Recently we observed sinusal bradycardia set up during the chronic hypoglycemia state, lasting from more than 5 months, in a man submitted to subtotal intestinal resection, owing to wide extensive eosinophilic granuloma. The bradycardia disappeared quickly after the correction of the hypoglycemia, when the patient was submitted to parenteral hyperalimentation with a silicone rubber catheter in the superior vena cava. We suggest to set the bradycardia among the markers of undernutritional syndromes beside the known anthropometric, biochemical and immunological signs.