Pheochromocytoma and ischemic enterocolitis

In the nine year period, 1978-1987, two patients with pheochromocytoma presented to Sacred Heart Hospital, Yankton, South Dakota. Both cases were complicated pre-operatively by ischemic enterocolitis--a rarely reported, usually fatal complication of pheochromocytoma. It is thought that catecholamine-induced vasoconstriction of the mesenteric vessels resulted in the wide-spread hemorrhagic necrosis of the gut. Both patients survived not only the initial ischemic mesenteric insult, but also excision of the tumor.