Yoshiaki Minamori

Hazard of Glucagon Test in Diabetic Patients: Hypertensive crisis in asymptomatic pheochromocytoma

these results are to be expected. It is important not to confuse the terms glycemic index and glycemic response; they mean different things and have different mathematical and statistical properties. The glycemic index standardizes glycemic response areas to each individuals response to a standard food, thus correcting for between-subject variation. The figure, drawn from our 1990 data, shows the percentage of the total variance of the glycemic responses and glycemic index values attributable to the order of testing, the different foods (bread, rice, and spaghetti), order-food interaction, subject (between-subject variation), and error (within-subject variation) (4). Most of the variation of the blood glucose response areas was attributable to between-subject variation. However, expressing the results as glycemic indexes, the proportion of the total variance attributable to between-subject variability is reduced markedly. This is the purpose of the glycemic index.

COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF ULTRASONOGRAPHY AND COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN ADRENAL DISORDERS

Comparative diagnostic assessment by ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography (CT) was performed in each of 17 patients with adrenal disorders. US is better than CT for demonstrating the intratumorous characteristics, the relationship between the tumor and the surrounding organs, and the organ from which large tumors arise, such as pheochromocytoma. On the other hand, CT is better able to detect small adrenal tumors in primary aldosteronism, although US with a sector or linear scanner can also detect small tumors in some cases. Adrenal hyperplasia in both Cushings disease and congenital adrenogenital syndrome was more easily demonstrated by CT than by US. Of the two US instruments, a sector scanner was more useful in the delineation of the enlarged right nontumorous adrenal by scanning from the right intercostal region, but both scanners were of no use in the delineation of the enlarged nontumorous left adrenal in patients with obesity.