Table I.
Most Common Symptoms and Signs in Patients (Almost All Adults) With Pheochromocytoma Associated With Paroxysmal or Persistent Hypertension
| Symptoms | Paroxysmal | Persistent |
| n=37 | n=39 | |
| % | % | |
| Headaches (severe) | 92 | 72 |
| Excessive sweating (generalized) | 65 | 69 |
| Palpitations with or without tachycardia | 73 | 51 |
| Anxiety, nervousness, fear of impending death, or panic | 60 | 28 |
| Tremulousness | 51 | 26 |
| Pain in chest, abdomen (usually epigastric), lumbar regions, lower abdomen, or groin | 48 | 28 |
| Nausea with or without vomiting | 43 | 26 |
| Weakness, fatigue, prostration | 38 | 15 |
| Weight loss (severe) | 14 | 15 |
| Dyspnea | 11 | 18 |
| Warmth or heat intolerance | 13 | 15 |
| Noteworthy are painless hematuria, urinary frequency, nocturia, and tenesmus in pheochromocytoma of the urinary bladder. | ||
| Signs | ||
| Hypertension with or without wide fluctuations (rarely paroxysmal hypotension or hypertension alternating with hypotension, or hypertension absent) | ||
| Hypertension induced by physical maneuver such as exercise, postural change, or palpation and massage of flank or mass elsewhere | ||
| Orthostatic hypotension with or without postural tachycardia | ||
| Paradoxical blood pressure response to certain antihypertensive drugs; marked pressor response with induction of anesthesia | ||
| Sweating | ||
| Tachycardia or reflex bradycardia, very forceful heartbeat, arrhythmia | ||
| Pallor of face and upper part of body (rarely flushing) | ||
| Anxious, frightened, troubled appearance | ||
| Leanness or underweight | ||
| Hypertensive retinopathy | ||
| Modified from Clinical and Experimental Pheochromocytoma. 2 | ||