Pancreatic vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-secreting tumor: report of a case

A 58-year-old Taiwanese woman was admitted to Mackay Memorial Hospital for evaluation profuse watery diarrhea. She presented with watery diarrhea, hypokalemia, and hypochlorhydria, and had experienced these problems for 2 years prior to admission. A pancreatic tumor with liver metastasis was noted by the ultrasound, abdominal CT scanning, and angiography studies. Surgical exploration disclosed an ill-defined ovoid tumor in the body and tail of the pancreas measuring 8 x 3 x 3 cm. The immunohistochemistry study of the tumor for VIP-immunoreactivity (VIP: vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) was markedly positive, and also stained slightly positive for other peptides, including pancreatic polypeptide (PP), calcitonin, glucagon, and neuron-specific enolase (NSE). Postoperatively, the patient recovered immediately from her symptoms and there has been no evidence of recurrence during the past 8 months of follow-up.