Traumatic injury causing intraperitoneal hemorrhage of an occult pheochromocytoma

Pheochromocytoma is a rare catecholamine-secreting tumor derived from chromaffin cells. The diagnosis is usually suggested by classic history in a symptomatic patient, presence of a strong family history in a patient, or discovery of an incidental mass on imaging in an asymptomatic patient. Traumatic hemorrhage into an occult pheochromocytoma presenting as hypovolemic shock is a rare presentation of pheochromocytoma. We report a case of a 48-year-old female, who presented in hypovolemic shock due to unilateral adrenal hemorrhage secondary to a fall from horse. Computed tomographic imaging revealed that the source of the hypovolemic shock was hemorrhagic right adrenal mass with active extravasation. The patient underwent emergent selective arterial embolization of right superior adrenal artery and a small adrenal branch from the right renal artery to control the hemorrhage. The patient subsequently progressed to sepsis and MODS, needing multiple surgical procedures and a protracted recovery in the ICU. In the ICU, the patient suffered from rapid cyclic fluctuation of her systolic blood pressure and was subsequently diagnosed with pheochromocytoma secondary to traumatic hemorrhage. We discuss this rare case along with the presentation and diagnostic workup of this critically ill patient with a previously undiagnosed pheochromocytoma.