Article Text
Summary
Pheochromocytoma is a rare catecholamine-secreting tumour that arises from chromaffin cells in the adrenal medulla or extra-adrenal sympathetic ganglia. It classically presents with paroxysmal headaches, hypertension, palpitations and sweating related to catecholamine excess. Diabetes is reported to be present in approximately one-third of patients with pheochromocytoma; however, diabetic ketoacidosis is an extremely rare complication. We present a case of an African-American male aged 30 years who initially presented with diabetic ketoacidosis and hypertensive urgency whose blood pressure and glycaemic control improved remarkably following tumour excision. We will discuss this unusual presentation of pheochromocytoma along with a management approach for such adrenal incidentalomas.
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Footnotes
Twitter Follow Yub Raj Sedhai at @Sedhai007
Contributors YRS conceived the concept, performed the literature review and wrote the entire manuscript. KR contributed in writing the manuscript and carried out proofreading of the manuscript. DP contributed to the literature review. JAL is a preceptor of authors and helped the authors by supervision and guidance.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Obtained.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.