Thoracic pheochromocytoma revealed by ventricular tachycardia. Clinical case and review of the literature

The ectopic vesical pheochromocytoma a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge case report and literature review

INTRODUCTION

Extra-adrenal localization of pheochromocytoma is rare. Its clinical revelation is paroxysmal but maybe in the form of permanent hypertension resistant to treatment. The main problem with these tumors is to affirm their benignity or malignancy, ectopic pheochromocytomas have a malignant development once in two.

CASE PRESENTATION

We report the observation of a 39-year-old woman hypertensive on Amlodipine. She presents for sweating, headache, and palpation. The dosage of urinary metabolites revealed a marked increase in metanephrine and normetanephrine. Imagery had shown, at the expense of the left lateral wall of the bladder, a budding tissue formation with irregular contours which was significantly enhanced after injection of PDC. The diagnosis of an ectopic pheochromocytoma was accepted. The patient underwent a partial cystectomy, the postoperative consequences of which were unremarkable.

DISCUSSION

Threatening secretory syndromes are rare medical situations that require urgent management. Pheochromocytoma can be seen at any age from childhood to old age. The treatment of pheochromocytoma is surgical, once the stages of positive and topographic diagnosis have been carried out, the patient must be immediately entrusted to a team of trained surgeons and anesthetists. The prognosis remains unpredictable, hence the interest in prolonged monitoring.

CONCLUSION

Pheochromocytoma is a tumor developed at the expense of chromaffin tissues, extra-adrenal localizations exist, but remain rare. It is a pathology that presents a diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma in which patients require regular and prolonged postoperative monitoring to detect a possible metastasis or recurrence.

Diagnosing phaeochromocytoma/paraganglioma in a patient presenting with critical illness: biochemistry versus imaging

Phaeochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGLs) are revealed by acute cardiovascular complications involving end-organ damage in up to 20% of cases, a presentation associated with particularly high risk for mortality. Among such cases, PPGLs should be considered in patients with unexplained left ventricular failure, multi-organ failure, hypertensive crises or shock. The diagnosis of PPGL commonly relies on measurements of metanephrines in plasma or urine. However, acute critical illness is usually associated with sympathoadrenal activation. Thus, levels of metanephrines in patients in an acute emergency or intensive care setting, whether treated or not with vasoactive drugs, usually cannot be used to reliably diagnose PPGL. Delays in provision of diagnostic test results, particularly when these require 24-h urine collections, may also be incompatible for any need for rapid decisions on patient management or therapeutic interventions. The acute emergency situation therefore represents one exception to the rule where imaging studies to search for a PPGL may be undertaken without biochemical evidence of a catecholamine-producing tumour.

Isolated junctional tachycardia in a patient with pheochromocytoma: an unusual presentation of an uncommon disease

Pheochromocytoma is a rare disease, which often presents a diagnostic challenge due to a variable symptom presentation complex. We report the case of a child who presented with isolated symptoms of palpitations and was found to have junctional tachycardia with subsequent development of cardiomyopathy. Further evaluation revealed that she had an extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma, which was the cause of her arrhythmia and subsequent symptomatology.

Adverse drug reactions in patients with phaeochromocytoma: incidence, prevention and management

The dangers of phaeochromocytomas are mainly due to the capability of these neuroendocrine tumours to secrete large quantities of vasoactive catecholamines, thereby increasing blood pressure and causing other related adverse events or complications. Phaeochromocytomas are often missed, sometimes only becoming apparent during therapeutic interventions that provoke release or interfere with the disposition of catecholamines produced by the tumours. Because phaeochromocytomas are rare, evidence contraindicating use of specific drugs is largely anecdotal or based on case reports. The heterogeneous nature of the tumours also makes adverse reactions highly variable among patients. Some drugs, such as dopamine D(2) receptor antagonists (e.g. metoclopramide, veralipride) and beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists (beta-blockers) clearly carry high potential for adverse reactions, while others such as tricyclic antidepressants seem more inconsistent in producing complications. Other drugs capable of causing adverse reactions include monoamine oxidase inhibitors, sympathomimetics (e.g. ephedrine) and certain peptide and corticosteroid hormones (e.g. corticotropin, glucagon and glucocorticoids). Risks associated with contraindicated medications are easily minimised by adoption of appropriate safeguards (e.g. adrenoceptor blockade). Without such precautions, the state of cardiovascular vulnerability makes some drugs and manipulations employed during surgical anaesthesia particularly dangerous. Problems arise most often when drugs or therapeutic procedures are employed in patients in whom the tumour is not suspected. In such cases, it is extremely important for the clinician to recognise the possibility of an underlying catecholamine-producing tumour and to take the most appropriate steps to manage and treat adverse events and clinical complications.

Functional Paraganglioma of the Middle Mediastinum

We describe a 49-year-old woman with refractory hypertension resulting from a functional paraganglioma of the middle mediastinum. After aggressive medical antihypertensive control and reduction of catecholamine production, she underwent surgical resection requiring transection and subsequent reconstruction of the aorta on cardiopulmonary bypass and circulatory arrest. We believe that this is the first report of a functionally active paraganglioma of the mediastinum requiring resection with cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic reconstruction.

Emergencies caused by pheochromocytoma, neuroblastoma, or ganglioneuroma

Pheochromocytoma may lead to important emergency situations, ranging from cardiovascular emergencies to acute abdomen and multiorgan failure. It is vital to think about this disease in any emergency situation when conventional therapy fails to achieve control or symptoms occur that do not fit the initial diagnosis. The importance of keeping this diagnosis in minds is underscored by the fact that, in 50% of pheochromocytoma patients, the diagnosis is initially overlooked. Two other tumors of the sympathetic nervous system, neuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma, are less commonly associated with emergency conditions. If they occur, they are often linked to catecholamine excess, paraneoplastic phenomena, or local tumor mass effect.

Malignant adrenal tumors

Adrenal tumors, apart from neuroblastoma, are relatively rare in infancy and childhood. Most adrenal lesions are benign, and both benign and malignant tumors may be hormonally active thus, making accurate preoperative diagnosis difficult. The two main malignant tumors are adrenocortical carcinoma and pheochromocytoma. In both tumors, it may be difficult to determine benign from malignant and the biologic behavior and degree of invasion may portend a more malignant course. Surgical excision is the primary therapy for both tumors, including excision of metastatic and recurrent tumor. An open procedure should be considered for invasive adrenocortical carcinoma and in pheochromocytomas in which preoperative imaging demonstrates metastatic nodal disease. A laparoscopic approach is preferred for lesions in which preoperative imaging demonstrates a localized lesion. Chemotherapy, although without proven efficacy, is utilized in some children with metastatic or unresectable disease.

Extra-Adrenal Pheochromocytoma Presenting with Life-Threatening Ventricular Tachycardia: A Case Report

Extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma develops in paraganglion chromaffin cells of the sympathetic nervous system. It probably represents at least 15% of adult and 30% of childhood pheochromocytomas. Although electrocardiographic abnormalities occur in up to 75% of patients with pheochromocytoma, there are only three other reported cases of pheochromocytoma that initially presented with ventricular tachycardia. In this report, we describe a 64-year-old woman with an abdominal para-aortic extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma who presented with pulseless ventricular tachycardia and needed electrical defibrillation initially to keep vital signs. The 24-hour urine vanillylmandelic acid was 35.8 mg. Computerized tomography showed a left retroperitoneal mass. The postoperative course was uneventful. Pheochromocytoma was proved by histologic study.

Paraganglioma (pheochromocytoma) of the posterior mediastinum: a case report and review of the literature

Pheochromocytoma is an uncommon tumor in the pediatric population. Paraganglioma, or extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma, accounts for only a small fraction of pediatric pheochromocytomas, with most of these tumors presenting within the abdominal cavity. Herein the authors report the extremely rare case of a biochemically active paraganglioma presenting as a posterior mediastinal mass in an 8-year-old boy.