Phaeochromocytoma crisis presenting with profound hypoglycaemia and subsequent hypertension

Abstract

A patient was presented with four days of vomiting, abdominal pain and sweating. At presentation the Capillary Blood Glucose (CBG) was 1.7 mmol/L, the Blood Pressure (BP) was 182/102 mmHg, and the pulse 100 bpm. On examination, he was sweaty, pale and cold. The initial differential diagnosis was hypoglycaemia secondary to insulin abuse, hypoadrenalism or insulinoma, the transient hypertension being considered a consequence of sympathetic stimulation. He remained clinically well overnight with a CBG of 10-14 mmol/L following intravenous glucose. The next morning he complained of nausea and abdominal pain. The BP had risen to 203/127 mmHg when he was later reviewed, having been given 10mg intramuscular metoclopramide. Shortly afterwards, he developed acute pulmonary oedema and had become hypoglycaemic again; a phaeochromocytoma crisis was suspected. Treatment with alpha-adrenoceptor blockade with intravenous phenoxybenzamine was advised. However, the patient deteriorated and died in the Intensive Care Unit within two hours. Autopsy examination confirmed a phaeochromocytoma in the left adrenal, with haemorrhage within the head of pancreas, but no evidence of a pancreatic tumour.