[Unusual cause of hypercalcemia in pregnancy].

BACKGROUND

Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) diagnosed during pregnancy are extremely rare. This case report describes diagnosis and treatment of a metastasized pancreas NET that became symptomatic in the second trimester.

CASE DESCRIPTION: A 33-year-old patient presented to the emergency department in the 19th week of pregnancy (WOP) with persistent diarrhea. Laboratory tests showed a pronounced hypercalcemia (3.53 mmol/l). Imaging revealed a mass in the pancreatic corpus/tail with extensive liver metastasis. Histologically, a NET (G2, SSTR-positive) with paraneoplastic parathormone-related-peptide secretion was found to be the cause of hypercalcemia. Under a treatment with octreotide, calcium values normalized and diarrhea stopped. After delivery of a healthy child (32.WOP via cesarean section) tumor progress was found. The pancreatic mass was resected completely, the liver metastases as far as possible. Postoperatively, in a CT scan, residual suspicious liver lesions could be found, and a palliative therapy with lanreotide was initiated. With this treatment, the patient has been asymptomatic for one year, and serum calcium remained normal. The child developed normally.

DISCUSSION: This unusual case shows that even in extensively metastasized symptomatic NETs during pregnancy, there may be sufficient diagnostic and therapeutic options that allow for a continuation of pregnancy in close interdisciplinary cooperation under careful risk-benefit assessment for mother and child.