Psychosomatics in Emergency: presentation of a case report of stress erythrocytosis

Stress erythrocytosis is a well-known clinical condition with increased hematocrit, erythrocyte count and hemoglobin concentration in mixed venous blood. The condition is due to a lower-than-normal plasma volume rather than to an increased number of erythrocytes; therefore, it constitutes a false hemoconcentration polyglobulia. In the literature, the description of these clinical patients with arterial hypertension, obesity, and sedentariness, as Gaisböck has already pointed out. The syndrome associated with this eponym presents with severe arterial hypertension, significant polyglobulia, congestion of the gastric mucosa with hyperchlorhydria, hyperglycemia, hypercholesterolemia, hyperproteinemia and hyperuricemia. The final stage of the disease occurs after a few years due to heart failure or cerebral vascular accidents. We present a case in a young man with no underlying internal pathology, no risk factors, and no specific therapies but only the presence of a psychiatric disorder as a trigger cause.