A CASE OF ISCHEMIC COLITIS ASSOCIATED WITH PHEOCHROMOCYTOMA

A 40-year-old woman was admitted because of abdominal pain and diarrhe a, She sometimes experienced paroxysmal hypertension, sweating, headac he, and palpitation, Sigmoidoscopic findings showed well demarcated di ffuse mucosal edema, hyperemia, and easy touch bleeding from distal de scending colon up to the splenic flexure area, Barium x-ray showed los s of haustral marking, thumb printing appearance, and diffuse luminal stenosis in the transverse, descending, and sigmoid colon, On the abdo minal computed tomogram, a 3.8-cm sized well-enhanced right adrenal ma ss was incidentally found, Twenty-four hour urinary excretion of vanil lyl mandelic acid, norepinephrine, and normetanephrine were increased, Iodine(131) metaiodobenzylguanidine sears shaw-eel hot uptake on the right adrenal gland compatible with pheochromocytoma, Exploratory lapa rotomy was done under the impression of ischemic colitis associated wi th pheochromocytoma. Adrenalectomy and resection of the stenotic left colon were performed, After surgery, pain subsided, blood pressure fel l gradually, blood sugar and catecholamine level became normal, and bo wel habit returned to normal. (C) 1998 by Am. Coll. of Gastroenterolog y.