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Current progress and future challenges in the biochemical diagnosis and treatment of pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas.
Horm. Metab. Res. 40, 329-337 (2008)
Findings from five independent studies - with close to 350 patients with pheochromocytoma and more than 2,500 in whom the tumor was excluded - indicate that measurements of plasma free metanephrines provide an overall diagnostic sensitivity of 98% and specificity of 92%. The recommendation that initial testing for the tumor should always include measurements of either plasma or urinary fractionated metanephrines results from recognition of the high diagnostic sensitivity of measurements of plasma metanephrines. The few patients with pheochromocytoma in whom the test may not yield a positive result include those with very small tumors or microscopic disease and others with tumors that do not produce norepinephrine and epinephrine. Such patients are typically normotensive and do not exhibit symptoms of catecholamine excess. Additional measurements of methoxytyramine can be useful for detecting those tumors that produce only dopamine. Suboptimal diagnostic specificity and difficulties in distinguishing true- from false-positive elevations of plasma metanephrines remain challenges for diagnosis. Improvements in analytical technology (e.g., liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry) and new strategies for follow-up testing provide possible solutions to these problems. The single most important remaining clinical care challenge is the development of effective cures for patients with malignant disease. Current treatments, none of which are truly satisfactory, include chemotherapy and radiopharmaceutical therapy with (131)I-labelled M-iodobenzylguanidine or radioactive somatostatin analogues. Improvements in treatment may in the future come from several fronts, but proof of efficacy ideally will require well-coordinated multicenter prospective trials in larger numbers of patients than in previous studies.
Impact Factor
Scopus SNIP
Web of Science
Times Cited
Times Cited
Scopus
Cited By
Cited By
Altmetric
0.790
0.790
59
66
Anmerkungen
Besondere Publikation
Auf Hompepage verbergern
Publikationstyp
Artikel: Journalartikel
Dokumenttyp
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel
Sprache
englisch
Veröffentlichungsjahr
2008
HGF-Berichtsjahr
0
ISSN (print) / ISBN
0018-5043
e-ISSN
1439-4286
Zeitschrift
Hormone and Metabolic Research
Quellenangaben
Band: 40,
Heft: 5,
Seiten: 329-337
Verlag
Thieme
Begutachtungsstatus
Peer reviewed
Institut(e)
Institute of Pancreatic Islet Research (IPI)
PubMed ID
18491252
Erfassungsdatum
2008-12-31