Acute systolic heart failure and uncontrolled hypertension: what is the missing link?

Pheochromocytoma is a rare tumor in adults, with an estimated annual incidence of 0.8 per 100,000 persons. Cardiomyopathy is an uncommon presentation of such a rare disease. Serious cardiovascular complications of these tumors are related to potent effects of secreted catecholamines. The mechanism of pheochromocytoma-related cardiomyopathy is not well understood but it is likely due to the effect of excess catecholamines and their oxidation products which have been found to have a direct toxic effect on the myocardium. We describe below a case of a 70-year old female with uncontrolled hypertension and new onset acute systolic heart failure, who on further evaluation was noted to have pheochromocytoma-related cardiomyopathy. Pheochromocytoma should be strongly considered in the differential diagnosis of non-ischemic cardiomyopathy for a patient with elevated blood pressures relative to severity of cardiac dysfunction.