Increased urinary catecholamines in an infant with the diencephalic syndrome

Abstract

In an infant of 15 months with the diencephalic syndrome, urinary excretion of norepinephrine was moderately raised and epinephrine greatly so. It is suggested that catecholamine secretion may be due to sympathetic stimulation at the level of the diencephalon, by a space-occupying lesion pressing on the thalamohypothalamic pathway. Some of the symptoms of the diencephalic syndrome such as euphoria, irritability, skin pallor, and hypertension may be the result of catecholamine secretion.