Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Nov 26, 2018; 6(14): 862-868
Published online Nov 26, 2018. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v6.i14.862
Octreotide reverses shock due to vasoactive intestinal peptide-secreting adrenal pheochromocytoma: A case report and review of literature
Xiao Hu, Wei Cao, Min Zhao
Xiao Hu, Min Zhao, Department of Emergency Medicine, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Wei Cao, Department of Pathology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao M and Hu X designed the report; Hu X collected the patient’s clinical data; Cao W performed the pathological and immunohistopathological studies; Zhao M and Hu X analyzed the data and wrote the paper.
Supported by National Clinical Specialty Construction Project, No. 2012649.
Informed consent statement: Consent was obtained from relatives of the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Min Zhao, MD, PhD, Professor, Chief, Department of Emergency Medicine, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36, Sanhao Street, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China. zhaom@sj-hospital.org
Telephone: +86-24-9661564131 Fax: +86-24-9661564131
Received: September 5, 2018
Peer-review started: September 5, 2018
First decision: October 4, 2018
Revised: October 15, 2018
Accepted: October 17, 2018
Article in press: October 16, 2018
Published online: November 26, 2018
Processing time: 83 Days and 1.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Vasoactive intestinal peptide-producing tumors (VIPoma) usually originate in the pancreas. VIP-secreting pheochromocytoma is very rare and most of the related cases reported are characterized by diarrhea, hypokalemia, and gastric acid deficiency (WDHA syndrome). To our knowledge, this is the first reported instance of VIP-secreting pheochromocytoma marked by persistent shock flushing and diarrhea and high sensitivity to octreotide. This case helps to improve the understanding of the pathogenesis, biology, and behavior of VIPoma and pheochromocytoma.