[Malignant pheochromocytoma with remarkable response to CVD chemotherapy--a case report]

A 60-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with the chief complaint of a left upper abdominal mass. 131I-MIBG scintiscan revealed a left upper abdominal mass, and the patient's serum catecholamine level was very high. Our diagnosis was pheochromocytoma of the left adrenal gland. On Oct. 19, 1995, a left nephrectomy and adrenectomy were performed. The serum catecholamine level then decreased and blood pressure was normalized. Two years later, it became difficult to control the patient's hypertension, and multiple metastatic liver cancer was found by an abdominal CT scan. The diagnosis of malignant pheochromocytoma was confirmed by the accumulation of 131I-MIBG in the liver. We started CVD chemotherapy. After 10 cycles of this chemotherapy, the serum catecholamine level was almost normalized and the metastatic liver cancer was reduced to one-third in size.