Abstract

CABRERA GAMEZ, Maité et al. Pheochromocytoma. A clinical case report.. Rev Cubana Endocrinol [online]. 2008, vol.19, n.2. ISSN 1561-2953.

The pheochromocytoma is a tumor of the chromaffin cells that may be located in territories derived from the neural crest or in the way these cells follow to their definitive localization. Generally, they are located in the abdomen (90 % of the cases), particularly in the suprarenal glands and in Zuckerkandl's organ. They may cause a wide variety of symptoms due to their capacity for secreting catecholamine, specifically noradrenalin and adrenaline in variable and intermittent amounts. Clinically, they may be asymptomatic or appear with paroxistic arterial hypertension, or permanent with or without paroxisms, accompanied with the classic triad of headache, hyperhydrosis and tachycardia. According to the above-mentioned, it was decided to present a clinical case of a 40-year-old male patient with history of apparently essential controlled arterial hypertension of several years of evolution, with the diagnosis of apparently non-functional incidental right suprarenal tumor that after presurgical abdominal palpation began with a paroxistic hypertensive severe crisis. The patient was prepared with an alpha-blocker and he was operated on. A pheochromocytoma of the right suprarenal gland was confirmed in the anatomopathological report.

Keywords : Pheochromocytoma; hypertension; suprarenal size.

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