Unusual usefulness of prazosin in the diagnosis and preoperative treatment of pheochromocytoma. Considerations on a personal case.

We report a case of a patient with severe sustained hypertension associated with hypertensive crises. The administration of prazosin, 1 mg, resulted in a dramatic drop of blood pressure to 100/80 mmHg. Subsequent therapy with prazosin in conjunction with a \u3b2-blocker was consistently effective in maintaining blood pressure reduction, so that diagnostic procedures for pheochromocytoma could be performed and the patient could be adequately prepared for surger