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Diagnosing metastatic pheochromocytoma: Trick lies in attention to details!
  1. Aditya Sharma1,
  2. Shiraz Akif Mohammed Ziauddin1,
  3. Kapil Chaudhary1,
  4. Kirti Gupta2 and
  5. Venkatesh Dhanshekhar2
  1. 1Department of Urology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
  2. 2Histopathology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
  1. Correspondence to Dr Shiraz Akif Mohammed Ziauddin; akif786zia{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Functional metastatic pheochromocytoma (PCC) is a very rare tumour and cytoreductive adrenalectomy with oligo metastatectomy is recommended in cases of low tumour burden. We report a rare case of metastatic PCC with an incidentally detected suspicious nodule seen on the anterior surface of the right lobe of the liver. The adrenal and the lesion were excised and sent for histopathology which was reported as a metastasis from PCC. This lesion was not visualised preoperatively on DOTA-PET-CT, highlighting the importance of keeping a low threshold for suspicion of metastasis in abnormal lesions and taking a biopsy during surgery. Inspection of the liver and rest of the abdomen for any abnormality should be done even when operating for any apparently benign lesions.

  • adrenal disorders
  • urological cancer
  • urological surgery

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Footnotes

  • Contributors AS: idea generation and manuscript writing,literature search. SAMZ: idea generation manuscript writing and literature search. KC: idea generation and manuscript editing. KG: histopathology slide provision and editing. VD: histopathology slide preparation and labelling.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.