Pheochromocytoma

Although the syndrome of paroxysmal hypertension due to a chromaffin tumor of the adrenal gland has been thoroughly reviewed by several authors,1it remains a rare disease. Thus in 1939, seventeen years after Labbé, Tinel and Doumer2gave the first clinical description, Eleanor Humphreys3could find in the literature only 103 cases. Many of the reports represent pathologic studies, accidental postmortem observations or, in cases in which the diagnosis had been made, postoperative death. Hence since 1929, when Pincoffs4reported the first case in which a successful operation followed a correct diagnosis, there have been relatively few reports. For these reasons it is believed that the following detailed case history is of interest. REPORT OF CASE History.— E. C., a woman aged 49, was admitted to the private pavilion on Feb. 5, 1940 complaining of attacks of "blood pressure." Her father had died at the