Table 1.

Characteristics in various pheochromocytomas

Tumor and clinical characteristics	Sporadic	SDHB	MEN, VHL, NF1
Malignancy rate	10 – 36%	High but to be determined	< 5%
Most common location of primary tumor	Extra-adrenal	Extra-adrenal	Adrenal
Biochemical phenotype	NE	NE, DA	NE, EPI
Most common sites of metastatic lesions	Bones, LNs, liver, lungs	Bones,	Bones, LNs
Unfavorable prognostic factors	Younger age, large tumor, low NE levels	Younger age, large tumor, low NE and high DA levels	Large tumor

Abbreviations: NE: norepinephrine; EPI: epinephrine; DA: dopamine; LNs: lymphatic nodes.