Metachronous pheochromocytoma metastasis to the upper dorsal spine-6-year survival.
BACKGROUND
Malignant pheochromocytoma is a rare neoplasm of chromaffin tissue. Very few cases of malignant adrenal pheochromocytoma metastatic to vertebrae exist.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prognosis of a patient with an excised adrenal pheochromocytoma and a single metachronous metastasis to the upper dorsal spine.


METHODS
Case report


METHODS
The authors report a patient who underwent total excision of an adrenal pheochromocytoma of the left adrenal gland in 2000 who developed a single metastasis to the second dorsal vertebra in 2002 with no evidence of abdominal recurrence.


RESULTS
Four-year survival is documented after the spinal metastasis was first detected after two attempts at excision and radiotherapy.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with adrenal pheochromocytomas must be screened periodically with whole body imaging despite normal abdominal imaging as there is a definite risk of metachronous metastasis. Aggressive therapy may result in improving survival significantly in a subset of patients with isolated spinal metastases.
Kasliwal
Manish K
MK
Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi 110029, India.
Sharma
Manish S
MS
Vaishya
Sandeep
S
Sharma
Bhawani S
BS
D000310:Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010673:Pheochromocytoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery; D013125:Spinal Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000601:surgery