Malignant pheochromocytoma

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled “Malignant pheochromocytoma: state of the field with future projections” (Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006 Aug;1073:449-64). Author is Ahlman H, from the Department of Surgery, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Goteborg, Sweden. The prevalence of malignant pheochromocytoma is about 10% and is somewhat higher for paraganglioma. A problem for clinical follow-up is that patients with “benign” histopathologic findings may develop metastatic disease. At the first international symposium on pheochromocytoma in Bethesda (2005) experts from different disciplines and patients shared their experiences, and the present knowledge of this rare disease was updated. The discussion related to future strategies for better clinical/histopathologic diagnosis and understanding of different geno- and phenotypes. Curative surgery can only seldom be performed because of multiple metastases. The main therapeutic goal is therefore often tumor reduction and control of hypertension. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.