De-escalating preoperative α-blockade improves outcomes for pheochromocytoma surgery

Implementing a de-escalated preoperative α-blockade protocol for pheochromocytoma adrenalectomy shows promising results. The study involving 82 patients indicated that this approach led to a significantly shorter hospital stay (2.5 days compared to 7.1 days) and reduced duration of postoperative norepinephrine use (0.3 hours versus 5.1 hours). Although symptomatic hypotension was more common in the de-escalated group (34.2% vs. 9.1%, p=0.005), no significant differences in overall complications were observed, suggesting safety in this protocol.