The standard treatment for pheochromocytoma is surgical removal of the tumor. Before treatment, the patient’s condition will be stabilized. This often includes the use of medications, including alpha blockers and beta blockers, which are used to control blood pressure. These drugs have been shown to reduce the levels of stress hormones. Among patients who cannot tolerate alpha blockers, alternative antihypertensives such as calcium channel blockers may be used.

A few days in the hospital may be required while the patient is being stabilized. After the blood pressure is under control, surgery can be scheduled.

The choice of surgeries depends on the location and number of pheochromocytomas. If the adrenal glands are removed as a part of this process, the procedure may be called an adrenalectomy (surgical removal of an adrenal gland).

Two surgical approaches are used to remove the tumors: standard and laparoscopic. During standard surgery, the physician uses a large incision to gain entry to the tumors. This approach allows the physician to view all the tumors.

In recent years, however, laparoscopic techniques have gained popularity because they reduce trauma for the patient.  Laparoscopic surgery uses three or four small incisions (ports) in the patient’s abdomen rather than one long incision (opening the abdomen). Carbon dioxide is pumped into the abdomen through a port to create more room for the surgery. A fiber optic camera is placed through one port to allow the surgeon to “see” the tumor area. The other ports are used to admit long surgical instruments into the abdomen that the surgeon will use to remove the tumor. Following surgery, no additional treatment is generally necessary for a benign tumor. 

Cancerous pheochromocytomas are treated the same as benign tumors, by surgical removal. However, depending on the stage of the tumor, additional treatment may be necessary, including:

Chemotherapy or radiation therapy may be recommended instead of (or in addition to) surgery for some patients. Chemotherapy may be delivered by pill or through an injection. The drug enters the bloodstream and travels throughout the body. It is considered a systemic treatment because it can kill cancer cells anywhere in the body. Radiation therapy is delivered through a machine (outside the body) that directs high-energy x-rays into the cancer cells to shrink them. Radiation is administered to shrink the tumors and relieve localized symptoms.

After the underlying condition is treated, most patients will no longer show signs of high blood pressure. However, about one–fourth of all pheochromocytoma patients will need to take antihypertensive medications to treat ongoing high blood pressure after their treatment.

With little understanding of the cause of pheochromocytomas, there is no way to prevent them.