Young otherwise healthy woman with episodic headaches, palpitations, and sweating found to have severely elevated blood pressure, most consistent with a pheochromocytoma (tumor of adrenal medulla leading to increased catecholamine production)
Key idea: Classically leads to episodes of theย 5 Pโs:ย elevated bloodย Pressure,ย Painful headache,ย Perspiration,ย Palpitations andย Pallor
tinylilronWouldn't you expect tachycardia with a pheochromocytoma???+
lilmonkeyIn the NBME/USMLE world - pronounce tachycardia is more pathognomonic for hyperthyroidism. Here we have hyperthyroidism as the main distractor in answer choices so the authors decided to "make our choice a bit easier".+
beans123also no tremor and the hair/skin appear normal +
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