Nesidioblastosis is an obsolete medical term for persistent congenital hyperinsulinism. It was coined in the late 1960s by pathologists examining the islet cell structure of pancreases from infants with hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia. The pattern of beta cell distribution was noticeably different from that of older children and adults and was mistakenly thought to be the characteristic pathologic change of this disorder. We now know that the different structure described as nesidioblastosis can be normal for a fetal or neonatal pancreas, and that most congenital hyperinsulinism is caused by different mechanisms than excessive proliferation of beta cells in a fetal pattern.
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