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

Highlights

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  Pheochromocytoma is a tumor developed at the expense of chromaffin tissues.

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  Extra-adrenal localization of pheochromocytoma is rare.

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  The main problem with these tumors is to affirm their benignity or malignancy.

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  Ectopic pheochromocytomas have a malignant development once in two.

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  Ectopic pheochromocytoma presents a diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma.

Abstract

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.