Case Report
Incidental Phaeochromocytoma on Staging PET-CT in
a Patient with a Sigmoid Tumour and Situs Inversalis Totalis
M. R. Boland,
1
A. J. Lowery,
1
S. Walsh,
1
D. Beddy,
2
R. S. Prichard,
1
D. O’Shea,
3
S. J. Skehan,
4
and E. W. McDermott
1
1
he Department of Endocrine, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
2
he Department of Colorectal Surgery, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
3
he Department of Endocrinology, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
4
he Department of Radiology, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland
Correspondence should be addressed to M. R. Boland; mickyboland@gmail.com
Received 23 April 2014; Revised 17 June 2014; Accepted 19 June 2014; Published 8 July 2014
Academic Editor: Carmela De Crea
Copyright © 2014 M. R. Boland et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
An adrenal “incidentaloma” is deined as an unexpected inding on radiological imaging performed for unrelated indications.
Improvements in radiological technology have seen a dramatic increase in this phenomenon. We report the unique case of a 60-year-
old female presenting with a 6-month history of abdominal pain, altered bowel habit, and rectal bleeding. Her past medical history
included situs inversus totalis and a patent ductus arteriosus. Colonoscopy revealed an ulcerated tumour in her sigmoid colon.
Staging PET-CT conirmed a sigmoid tumour and also identiied a large heterogenous enhancing FDG-avid right adrenal mass.
Biochemical testing/MIBG imaging conirmed a right adrenal phaeochromocytoma. Hypertension was controlled and excision
was performed via a transperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy, in the let lateral decubitus position. Uniquely, liver retraction
was not required due to its position in the let hypochondrium. Histology conirmed a benign 46 mm phaeochromocytoma.
Subsequent uncomplicated sigmoid colectomy/right salpingo-oophorectomy for a locally advanced colonic tumour was performed
with adjuvant chemotherapy. his case highlights the importance of accurately identifying functioning adrenal tumours before
elective surgery as undiagnosed phaeochromocytomas carry signiicant intraoperative morbidity/mortality. Right adrenalectomy
was made easier in this patient by the liver’s unique position. Uncomplicated colorectal resection was made possible by combined
preoperative functional/anatomical imaging.
1. Introduction
he increasing incidence of adrenal incidentalomas identiied
by improved radiological techniques has been mirrored by
an increase in the incidence of asymptomatic phaeochromo-
cytomas [1]. he treatment of these functional lesions can
be challenging especially in the rare setting of situs inversus
totalis.
2. Presentation of Case
We report the case of a 60-year-old female who presented
with a six-month history of intermittent crampy abdominal
pain associated with an alteration in her bowel habit and two
episodes of rectal bleeding. Her background medical history
included situs inversus totalis combined with a congenital
patent ductus arteriosus, mitral regurgitation which required
placement of a metallic mitral valve, complete heart block
requiring placement of a dual chamber pacemaker, and
dilated cardiomyopathy with an ejection fraction of 24%. She
also had a longstanding history of hypertension. Her medi-
cations included telmisartan 20 mg daily per oral (PO), biso-
prolol 2.5 mg daily PO, furosemide/amiloride 40 mg/5 mg
daily PO, and warfarin 6 mg daily PO or as per regular
international normalised ratios. She was an ex-smoker and
reported no history of familial syndromes.
he patient underwent a colonoscopy which showed an
ulcerated sigmoid lesion at 50 cm. Biopsy was not performed
due to the patient’s ongoing anticoagulation. She proceeded
to have a staging Positron Emission Tomography-Computed
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Case Reports in Surgery
Volume 2014, Article ID 645462, 4 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/645462