Intracranial haemorrhage associated with phaeochromocytoma

Introduction. Pheochromocytoma is rarely disclosed by intracranial hemorrhage. We report two cases. Observation. The first 26-yearold patient developed subarachnoid hemorrhage due to a ruptured aneurysm of the middle cerebral artery. The second patient, aged 44 years, had a temporal hematoma. Diagnosis was suggested in both patients by hypertension and elevated urinary catecholamines and confirmed by imaging and MIBG scintigraphy. Adrenal gland tumors, on both glands in the first patient and on the right gland in the second were successfully removed; cranial hypertension totally regressed. Von Hippel Lindau disease was diagnosed by molecular genetics in the first patient. Paroxysmal hypertension could explain the brain hemorrhage in the first patient and may have favored aneurysmal rupture in the second. Conclusion. The relationships between pheochromocytoma and cerebral aneurysm are discussed.