PHEOCHROMOCYTOMA PRESENTING ACUTELY AS SEVERE CARDIAC-FAILURE

Phaeochromocytoma is a potentially lethal tumour that is surgically curable. It usually presents with hypertension, sweating, palpitations and headache. Acute cardiac failure can occur even in the presence of a normal heart due to massive catecholamine release causing impairment of myocardial function. In this case the diagnosis of phaeochromocytoma was only made at autopsy and illustrates the difficulty in diagnosis unless this unusual but potentially curable form of acute myocardial illness is considered in emergency admissions.