Vanishing of ruptured adrenal mass with takotsubo cardiomyopathy

Abstract

A 45-year-old male suddenly experienced left-flank abdominal pain. Echocardiography revealed akinesis of the ‘takotsubo cardiomyopathy’ type. He experienced a sudden haemodynamic collapse (blood pressure, 324/154 mmHg; pulse rate, 180 beats/min) during emergency cardiac catheterisation. An abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed expansion of a soft tissue mass 64 × 33 mm in dimension in the left adrenal region, with accumulation of fluid surrounding the left pararenal space. Three days after the attack, his urinary catecholamine concentrations were slightly elevated. We suspected the patient as having a pheochromocytoma followed by acute haemorrhagic rupture, based on signatures of adrenal mass, ‘takotsubo cardiomyopathy’, and the hypertensive crisis. Over the next few weeks, he recovered well as an outpatient, and his blood pressure remained around 110/60 mmHg without medication. Three weeks after the attack, an abdominal CT showed shrinkage of the ruptured adrenal mass (to a diameter of 30 mm) and absorption of the retroperitoneal hematoma. On day 190 after the attack, abdominal CT did not detect any left adrenal mass. This is the first report of the case showing a complete vanishing of ruptured adrenal mass with takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Although surgical approaches for ruptured adrenal mass involve either emergency or elective surgery, the patients did not need even the elective surgery. Accumulation of the similar cases may unravel clinical factors predicting self-limiting of the ruptured adrenal mass to avoid unnecessary risky surgery.