An unusual cause of chronic diarrhea in an elderly woman
Utku Erdem Soyaltın, Deniz Yüce Yıldırım, Bilgin Demir, Ferhat Ekinci, Harun Akar
Department of Internal Medicine, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, İzmir, Turkey
Keywords: Chronic diarrhea; vasoactive intestinal peptide; VIPoma.
Abstract
Vasoactive intestinal peptide-secreting tumors (VIPomas) are one of the most uncommon types of tumors. Herein we report a 79-year-old woman who was admitted with the complaints of fatigue, weakness, watery diarrhea and dehydration, which was subsequently proven to be from metastatic disease secondary to pancreatic VIPoma. It is recommended for physicians to check the serum vasoactive intestinal peptide levels in prolonged watery diarrhea in the elderly.