# VIPoma

Source: https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/  
OnCo record `vipoma` (Cancer). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

VIPoma is a very rare pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour that secretes vasoactive intestinal peptide, causing litres of watery diarrhoea a day with dangerous loss of potassium. Most have spread to the liver by diagnosis. Fluid replacement and somatostatin analogues control the diarrhoea, surgery cures the few caught early, and the usual neuroendocrine tumour treatments are used for spread.

## Summary

VIPoma is a functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour secreting vasoactive intestinal peptide, producing the Verner-Morrison syndrome of watery diarrhoea, hypokalaemia and achlorhydria (Pancreatology 2021). In the French GTE series of 22 patients with strictly confirmed diagnoses, tumours were mostly metastatic (77 percent) and grade 2 (83 percent), median follow-up was 78.2 months, surgical excision of non-metastatic tumours controlled the secretory syndrome, and the antisecretory (over 50 percent fall in bowel movements) and antitumour efficacy of each treatment received was recorded (Pancreatology 2021).

How it differs from its parent: the emergency is metabolic rather than oncological; secretory diarrhoea persists during fasting and can cause renal failure and arrhythmia, so rehydration and octreotide come before any tumour-directed treatment.

How common: no registry figure in the sources read; the functioning tumours are a minority of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours.

Treatment: intravenous fluids and potassium; somatostatin analogues for the syndrome; resection for localised disease; the parent page's pathways (everolimus, sunitinib, peptide receptor radionuclide therapy, liver-directed therapy, chemotherapy for grade 3) for metastatic disease, with the GTE series as the evidence on antisecretory efficacy (Pancreatology 2021).

## Fields

- Kind: Cancer
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: Vasoactive intestinal peptide-secreting tumour; Verner-Morrison syndrome; Pancreatic cholera; WDHA syndrome (watery diarrhoea, hypokalaemia, achlorhydria)
- Tags: subtype-page; wave4; rare
- Group: endocrine
- Burden: Very rare and life-threatening: seven French expert centres treated 22 patients between 1990 and 2016, 77 percent with metastatic disease and 83 percent grade 2 (Pancreatology 2021). No registry figure is in the sources read.
- Subtypes: Pancreatic VIPoma, a functioning pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour (the usual site in adults); Extrapancreatic VIP-secreting tumours (neurogenic tumours in children); MEN1-associated VIPoma
- Biomarkers: Plasma vasoactive intestinal peptide; Serum potassium and bicarbonate; stool volume; Chromogranin A; WHO grade (Ki-67); Somatostatin receptor imaging

## Sections of this record

The page is a hub with ten sections in reading order; large sections have their own page. The same plan as JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/cancers/vipoma/sections.json

- Overview (on the hub): The TL;DR, the family this cancer belongs to, the organ, who gets it and what the state of the art is. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/#overview
- What it is (on the hub): Anatomy, the subtypes and how they differ, how it is staged, and where advanced disease spreads. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/#what-it-is [3 subtypes]
- Finding it (on the hub): How it shows itself, how it is confirmed, what screening exists, and the biomarkers clinicians test for. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/#finding-it [4 biomarkers]
- Treating it (on the hub): The standard of care by setting, the medicines, surgery and radiotherapy named in it, and the regimens behind them. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/#treating-it [1 setting, 1 decision with options]
- Evidence (on the hub): Trials recruiting now, the landmark trials, the key papers and what they mean, the latest literature, and the milestones year by year. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/#evidence
- The science (on the hub): The molecular landscape: the targets and how often each appears, the pathways, the mechanics stages and the preclinical models. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/#science [4 targets]
- Where you are (own page): Cases by country, the UK and NHS pathway and other country lenses, and the expert centres with trials on record. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/where-you-are/
- Living with it (on the hub): The decisions you may face, the aids that walk through them, the warnings on record, the first sixty days and the questions to ask. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/#living-with-it [8 questions, 6 red cards]
- What is coming (own page): Everything in development, the open problems and what is being done about them, the roadmaps, and what changed on this record. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/coming/ [2 medicines]
- Data (own page): Every connected record, the notes, the JSON, Markdown and RDF twins, and where the record came from and when it was checked. https://onco.cc/cancers/vipoma/data/ [12 connected records]

## Standard of care

- All cases: Rehydration and potassium; somatostatin analogues for the syndrome; resection when localised; the parent page's pathways for metastatic disease. ([Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic-net/), [Everolimus](https://onco.cc/drugs/everolimus/), [Sunitinib](https://onco.cc/drugs/sunitinib/), [Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT)](https://onco.cc/technologies/prrt/))

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIPoma
- NCI PDQ: pancreatic neuroendocrine (islet cell) tumour treatment: https://www.cancer.gov/types/pancreatic/neuroendocrine-tumors/treatment
- Pancreatology 2021: efficacy of treatments for VIPoma, French GTE multicentre series of 22 patients: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pan.2021.08.001

## Connected records

- cancers: [Glucagonoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/glucagonoma/), [Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1)](https://onco.cc/cancers/men1-syndrome/), [Neuroendocrine tumours](https://onco.cc/cancers/neuroendocrine/), [Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic-net/), [Somatostatinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/somatostatinoma/)
- technologies: [Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT)](https://onco.cc/technologies/prrt/)
- drugs: [Everolimus](https://onco.cc/drugs/everolimus/), [Sunitinib](https://onco.cc/drugs/sunitinib/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/vipoma.json