Abstract
We report the case of a 57-year-old male physician who presented with a life threatening secretory and refractory diarrhoea of around 20 L/day. This was complicated by severe hypotension, hypokalaemia, hypercalcaemia, renal failure requiring dialysis, metabolic acidosis, cardiorespiratory arrest and ventilation for 12 days. His diarrhoea responded immediately to the first dose of a therapeutic trial of subcutaneous octreotide 100 mcg 8 hourly which was started on clinical grounds alone before any investigations were carried out. After one day he was extubated and his blood pressure returned to normal. When a functioning neuroendocrine tumour is suspected clinically, the use of octreotide can, as in this case, be life saving.
Publication Date
2-12-2011
First Page
104
Last Page
107
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
ElShafie, Omayma; Grant, Christopher; Al-Hamdani, Aisha; Jain, Rajeev; and Woodhouse, Nicholas
(2011)
"VIPoma Crisis : Immediate and life saving reduction of massive stool volumes on starting treatment with octreotide,"
Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal: Vol. 11: 104-107.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18295/2075-0528.1245