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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
Signs and symptoms of pheochromocytomas may include:
- High blood pressure
- Rapid heart rate
- Forceful heartbeat
- Profound sweating
- Abdominal pain
- Sudden-onset headaches — usually severe — of varying duration
- Feeling of anxiety
- Feeling of extreme fright
- Pale skin
- Weight loss
These signs and symptoms develop because this type of tumor produces an excess of chemical compounds called catecholamines. Excessive secretion of catecholamines — the hormones adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine) — can lead to persistent high blood pressure or wild fluctuations in your blood pressure, depending on whether the catecholamines are released continuously or in shorter bursts. The intermittent release of these hormones can cause other symptoms to occur from time to time as well.
Although high blood pressure is a common sign of a pheochromocytoma, most people with high blood pressure don't have a pheochromocytoma.
When to see a doctor
Talk with your doctor if you:
- Experience a sudden, severe increase in blood pressure (hypertensive crisis)
- Have difficulty controlling high blood pressure
- Are taking more than four medications for high blood pressure
- Experience the other signs and symptoms of a pheochromocytoma
- Have a family history of pheochromocytoma; multiple endocrine neoplasia, type II (MEN II); von Hippel-Lindau disease; familial paraganglioma; or neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1)
- Neumann HP. Pheochromocytoma. In: Fauci AS, et al. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. 17th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Medical; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2902847. Accessed Feb. 20, 2009.
- Young WF, et al. Clinical presentation and diagnosis of pheochromocytoma. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 20, 2009.
- Fitzgerald PA. Endocrine disorders. In: McPhee SJ. Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment. Los Altos, Calif.: Lange Medical Publications. 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=14198. Accessed Feb. 20, 2009.
- Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. In: Kronenberg HM, et al. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/121640013-2/0/1555/94.html. Accessed Feb. 20, 2009.
- Hebert CJ, et al. Hypertensive crises. Primary Care. 2008;35:475. Accessed Feb. 21, 2009.
