Abstract

TANZI, María Noel et al. Chronic diarrhea as the initial manifestation of a ganglioneuroblastoma. Arch. Pediatr. Urug. [online]. 2017, vol.88, n.4, pp.205-209. ISSN 0004-0584.

Neuroblastoma is a malignant tumor of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system with heterogeneous clinical presentation and course. It is the third most frequent pediatric tumor and in 90% of cases it is diagnosed before 5 years of age. The most typical symptoms result from the tumor compression or bone pain caused by methastasis. Diarrhea as the main symptom is unusual, and thus it is hard to diagnose in early stages of the disease. We report the case of a 2-year-old patient who, after 8 months of study for chronic diarrhea was diagnosed with VIP-secreting ganglioneuroblastoma. It is necessary for this condition to be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients younger than 3 years old with chronic diarrhea with no evolution, after other etiologies are ruled out.

Keywords : Neuroblastoma; Diarrhea; Vasoactive intestinal peptide; Child.

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