A Case of Cured Diabetes Mellitus after Pheochromocytoma Removal / 대한내분비학회지

ABSTRACT

Pheochromocytoma is usually associated with a combination of various clinical manifestations caused by the overproduction of catecholamines. It is frequently accompanied by impaired glucose tolerance operating through 2-and-adrenergic mechanisms. A 41-year-old-woman was admitted to the hospital because of poorly-controlled diabetes mellitus and hypertension. She had suffered intermittent paroxysmal attacks of headache and chest discomfort and had been treated intermittently over a 2 year period for diabetes mellitus and hypertension. At admission, the levels of serum epinephrine, norepinephrine urinary excretion of total metanephrine, and VMA were all abnormally elevated. Adrenal CT showed a well-defined, homogenous mass in the right adrenal region and the tumor was diagnosed as pheochromocytoma. After tumor resection, the increased blood level of catecholamines, the urinary excretion of total metanephrine, and VMA were normalized, as was the hyperglycemia state. Diabetes mellitus of the patient was considered permanently resolved after tumor removal by the result of glucose tolerance in 75g oral glucose tolerance test.