Paraganglioma neuroendocrine tumor and psychiatric implications. A case report

Objective

Paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors. Occasionally they secrete catecholamines in sufficient quantities to cause symptoms. The majority of the cases, with the resection of the tumor, the psychotic symptoms disappeared and that is associated with the decreased levels of catecholamines.

Clinical case

We report the case of 56-year-old women with residual schizophrenia who started with acute symptoms characterized by palpitations, dyspnea, headache and facial rubbing with no response to antihypertensive treatment. At the same time she suddenly had positive psychosis symptoms, after a long time with residual and negative symptoms.

Conclusions

With the presentation of this case we want to highlight the signs that suggest the autonomic instability in psychosis patients, and how crucial is excluding underlying somatic conditions. We also examine the possible relationships between neural crest cell tumor that secrete catecholamines and schizophrenia.