Pheochromocytoma

[Pietrantonio]

Have any Anesthesiologists here on the forum had to perform a case with a patient who had a pheo? Back in Oct of 2002, I went to have a hernia operation, but my operation was aborted because once I was adminstered with anesthesia, I went into hypertension. Obviously I wasn't in a waked state of mind, so I couldn't see the expressions of the anesthesiologist when this incident occurred. After some work-ups, I was diagnosed with an extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma. In May 03 I had it removed, and it the pathology report classified it as benign. Just wondering if anyone has had to deal with this type of case directly. By the way, this interests me also because my career goal is to become an Anesthesiologist. Thanks for your time.😀

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Planktonmd]

Have any Anesthesiologists here on the forum had to perform a case with a patient who had a pheo? Back in Oct of 2002, I went to have a hernia operation, but my operation was aborted because once I was adminstered with anesthesia, I went into hypertension. Obviously I wasn't in a waked state of mind, so I couldn't see the expressions of the anesthesiologist when this incident occurred. After some work-ups, I was diagnosed with an extra-adrenal pheochromocytoma. In May 03 I had it removed, and it the pathology report classified it as benign. Just wondering if anyone has had to deal with this type of case directly. By the way, this interests me also because my career goal is to become an Anesthesiologist. Thanks for your time.😀

Your anesthesiologist was wise and did the right thing by aborting the surgery. Sometimes this decision is not easy to make.
Undiagnosed Pheochromocytoma is one of the things every anesthesiologist keeps on their minds all the time although they might never see one.
I would say it ranks up there with Malignant Hyperthermia on the list of things that you have to remember.
Fortunately this list is not too long in our specialty.

 

[MDEntropy]

What else would you say is on this list?

 

[Planktonmd]

What else would you say is on this list?

Malignant hyperthermia, Pseudo-cholinesterase deficiency....

 

[pinipig523]

I had a pheo the other day.... but I'm just a rotating student.

Today, we thought we had another one, but it was a false alarm.... more like an adrenal incidentalomma.....

 

[B-Bone]

I did two in two days a few weeks ago. They can be pretty nerve-wracking. BP from 210 to 40 systolic in like 5 seconds on removal of the tumor. One hand on the nipride drip, the other on the phenylephrine drip. Gas cranked all the way, then off over the course of 30 seconds. Lots of fun.

 

[Planktonmd]

Doing a pheochromocytoma resection is not scary because you and the patient would hopefully be as prepared as you can be for it.
What's really scary is dealing with an undiagnosed pheochromocytoma during surgery for something else.