Cardiovascular disorders in patients with pheochromocytoma

: The present study focuses on variants of cardiovascular disturbances in patients with pheochromocytoma, on identification of certain pathogenetic aspects of disturbances of the heart's rhythm, on the study of the impact of surgical treatment on hemodynamic shifts. A retrospective analysis was performed of 100 clinical records of those patients having had surgery for pheochromocytoma over the last five years. It has been ascertained that a major proportion of tumours of the chromaffin tissue of the adrenals secret epinephrine and norepinephrine giving rise to a mixed form of arterial hypertension. In 61 percent of patients, arterial hypertension tended to be accompanied by hypertrophy of the left ventricle and its systolic overload (3%) that has been noted to dispel after surgical treatment. In 27 percent of patients with pheochromocytoma, against the background of hypertensive crisis, abnormalities of metabolism or unstable coronary circulation there come to be seen paroxysms of disturbances of the heart's rhythm (extrasystole, paroxismal tachycardia) and dysfunction of the sinoatrial node.