Hypertensive crisis during percutaneous radiofrequency ablation of a metastatic adrenal tumor under general anesthesia: A case report

ABSTRACT

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been used as an alternative method of surgical treatment to treat neoplasms of variable body organs. In considerable proportion of RFA cases, anesthesiologists are asked to conduct general anesthesia. RFA has been known to be a safe and effective treatment, however injury to adjacent normal tissue during RFA develops serious complications. In particular, unintended injury to normal adrenal tissue of adrenal tumors can cause severe complications such as hypertensive crisis due to excessive secretion of catecholamine. However, serious complications of primary or metastatic adrenal tumors have been rarely reported due to RFA. We report a case of hypertensive crisis with associated tachycardia and ventricular arrhythmia during RFA of hepatocellular carcinoma metastatic to the adrenal gland.