English 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.
