This adrenal tumor is rare. Its prevalence is 0.46 cases per 100,000 people each year, according to the High Authority for Health. It develops both in women and in men, mainly in the age group of 20 to 50 years. Find out what are the symptoms, causes and treatments for pheochromocytoma.
Pheochromocytoma is a tumor of variable size (between 3 and 8 cm) observed at the level of the central part of the adrenal glands. The latter are located above each kidney, and are responsible for synthesizing hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. In the case of pheochromocytoma, in other words in the case of an adrenal tumor, the cells of the adrenal glands, called chromaffin cells, malfunction. These cells produce in an anarchic way, and no longer in response to specific circumstances, catecholamines: adrenaline and noradrenaline. The role of catecholamines is to regulate blood pressure, by dilation or contraction of blood vessels, as well as cardiac output. It is therefore easy to understand that this uncontrolled proliferation of catecholamines will cause multiple disorders in the body. High blood pressure, whether permanent or paroxysmal, is thus one of the major symptoms of this pathology. According to the Adrenal Association, treatment of this tumor necessarily requires surgery (ablation). This tumor is benign in (…)
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