Article Text
Summary
Chronic watery diarrhoea can be a presentation of gastrointestinal disease itself or a less-evident systemic disease. A 17-month-old boy presented with intractable diarrhoea, failure to gain weight, refractory tachycardia and severe hypertension. The ability to recognise and make a quick diagnosis of secretory type of diarrhoea dictated the outcome of patients with this ailment. Catecholamine hypersecretion was considered with the additional clues of refractory tachycardia and hypertension, a well-recognised phenomenon of neuroblastic tumours. A neuroblastic tumour can lead to vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) overexpression, which may result in secretory diarrhoea. In this situation, measurements of plasma VIP enabled crucial diagnosis. Imaging studies were used to identify and localise a neuroblastic tumour. Subsequent removal of the tumour was curative and led to the resolution of the symptoms.
- Neuroendocrinology
- Gastroenterology
- Neurogastroenterology
- Gastrointestinal hormones
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Footnotes
Contributors TT: acquisition of data or analysis and drafting the article. PS: conception and design, drafting and revising the article critically for important intellectual content and final approval of the version published. SS and BV: agreement to be accountable for the article and to ensure that all questions regarding the accuracy or integrity of the article are investigated and resolved. Final approval of the version published.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Guardian consent obtained.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.