Single Stage Bilateral Adrenalectomy (Cortical-Sparing) and Pancreatectomy (Corpus-Sparing) in a Patient with Von Hippel-Lindau Disease

Abstract

Von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) disease is an autosomal dominant syndrome and affects many organs. We aim to report an adult patient with VHL disease having bilateral adrenal pheochromocytoma and multiple neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas who was successfully treated with simultaneous function-preserving adrenalectomy and pancreatectomy. A 27-year-old woman was admitted to hospital with hypertension. The computed tomography of the abdomen revealed a solid tumor in both adrenal glands with the sizes of 12x7 cm on the right and 4x4 cm on the left. She also had two pancreatic solid masses in the head and three in the tail with varying sizes. The laboratory tests are all within normal limits except elevated 24-hour urinary metanephrine and normetanephrine. I-123 MIBG scanning showed increased uptake in both adrenal glands. Fine needle aspiration biopsy of the tumor on head of pancreas via endoscopic ultrasonography showed neuroendocrine tumor. Those findings were compatible with bilateral pheochromocytoma and multiple pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and genetic tests revealed the mutation which confirmed the diagnosis of VHL disease. After suppression with alpha-1 inhibitor, right total, left cortical-sparing adrenalectomy, Whipple procedure for the pancreatic head lesions and spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy were performed and pancreatic corpus was preserved. This case showed that multiple function-preserving procedures can be safely performed with oncological principles in patients with VHL disease.