Severe hypotension in disseminated colon cancer due to a possible decreased dopamine brain content: a case report

The case of a patient with advanced colon carcinoma is reported. She was hospitalized for severe hypotension, which was probably due to systemic vasodilatation. The patient was responsive only to continuous intravenous infusion of dopamine and was then successfully treated with an oral combination, consisting of L-dopa plus benserazide. Since benserazide blocks the peripheral production of dopamine, the effectiveness of this schedule in the treatment of severe hypotension would suggest the existence of a dopaminergic deficiency of the central nervous system rather than the peripheral vascular system. The present case report might represent a useful model to better understand the biochemical basis of hemodynamic dysfunction, which may occur in disseminated neoplasms or during immunotherapy of cancer with cytokines.