Within the last few years a great deal of attention has been given to the relation of the adrenal glands to arterial hypertension. Both hyperplasia and tumor of these organs have been found in some instances to be associated with high blood pressure. In particular, a small number of instances of tumor arising from the chromaffin tissue of the adrenal medulla have been reported as characterized by an unusual clinical picture, the most striking feature of which is paroxysmal hypertension. It is the purpose of this communication to report an instance of this condition, including certain observations on the heart which are of interest.
Among the published reports of instances of this type of adrenal tumor there have been several excellent descriptions of the associated clinical picture, of which condition our patient presented an extreme example. This symptom complex has been called the "suprarenal sympathetic syndrome" by Belt and Powell