Normotensive Pheochromocytoma As An Adrenal Incidentaloma: A Case Report
2925-2928
Correspondence
Mitra Niafar, Assistant professor of medicine and endocrinology. Endocrinology and Metabolism section, Department of Medicine, Imam Reza Hospital, Tabriz university of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Telephone and Fax: + 98 -411-3357850 Mobile Phone: +989143113036, E-mail: dr_niafar@yahoo.com & Niafarm@tbzmed.ac.ir
Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are catecholamine producing tumours that arise from the sympathetic or the parasympathetic nervous system. If the tumour is confined to the inner part of the adrenal gland, it is called as pheochromocytoma and if it has extra adrenal location, it is called as paraganglioma. Pheochromocytoma is a rare cause of hypertension with about 0.1 % incidence in hypertensive patients. Adrenal masses are found in about 2% of the abdominal CT scans which are performed for other reasons (e.g. incidentalomas) and of these, 5.1% to 23% are considered to be pheochromocytomas.
Nonfunctional pheochromocytoma is usually an asymptomatic adrenal tumour, even if it is associated with hypercatecholaminaemia.
In this paper, we report a rare case of normotensive pheochromocytoma which was discovered incidentally while assessing abdominal discomfort. Despite the presence of excess catecholamines in the circulation, the patient was normotensive without any other sign of pheochromocytoma. Surgical excision of the adrenal tumour revealed pheochromocytoma.