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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Eur J Clin Invest. 2011 Apr 1;41(10):1121–1128. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2362.2011.02518.x

Table 3.

Biochemical patterns of subjects with metastatic and benign pheochromocytoma

Parameter Metastatic
pheochromocytoma
(n=41)		 Benign
pheochromocytoma
(n=108)		 P
Norepinephrine 15 (36.6%) 22 (20.4%) 0.04
Norepinephrine + epinephrine 13 (31.7%) 51 (47.7%) 0.06
Norepinephrine + epinephrine + dopamine 8 (19.5%) 12 (11.2%) NS
Norepinephrine + dopamine 3 (7.3%) 5 (4.7%) NS
Epinephrine 1 (2.4%) 11 (10.1%) 0.11
No catecholamine secretion 1 (2.4%) 6 (5.6%) NS
Positive norepinephrine 39 (95.1%) 90 (83.3%) 0.046
Positive epinephrine 22 (53.6%) 74 (69.2%) 0.06
Positive dopamine or without catecholamine secretion 12 (29.3%) 23 (21.3%) NS

Norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine denote elevated either catecholamines, or its metabolites either in urine or in plasma; NS, non-significant.