Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: There is scarcity of information regarding the profile of patients with Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma from India.

Aim: To study clinical profile of patients with Pheochromocytoma (PHEO)/Paraganglioma (PGL) attending the AIIMS hospital.

Methodology:: Study protocol was approved by the AIIMS ethics committee. Written informed consent was taken from patients (parents in case of children). Patients of PHEO & PGL attending the AIIMS hospital from March 2009 were enrolled for this study. The patients with the features of VHL & MEN-1 &2 syndromes were excluded from the study.

PHEO/PGL were diagnosed on the basis of clinical profile, elevation of metabolites Epinephrine, Norepinephrine, Dopamine, Vinylmandelic acid, Normetanephrine, Metanephrine, MRI, MIBG uptake, Ga-DOTANOC uptake etc. Diagnosis was confirmed with histopathologically.

Results: Forty three new patients were diagnosed to have PHEO/PGL during 22 month period starting from March 2009. Age range from 14–62 years (mean 35.09 y±14.07), 18M & 25F.Twenty two (51.1%) P were PHEO, 2(4.6%) had PHEO along with extra-adrenal PGL, 1 (2.3%) had PHEO along with parathyroid adenoma. 18 (41.6%) patients had PGL. Out of these 18 patients, 2(11%) had 2 PGL, (one with chest & urinary bladder (UB) PGL & one with Carotid body & thyroid), 1 (5.5%) with UB PGL, 2(11%) with chest PGL, 1(5.5%) with pulmonary, and 1 (5.5%) with abdominal PGL. 11 (61.1%) had head & neck PGL. 10 (23.2%) patients with PHEO/PGL had positive family history. 9 (90%) of these patients with positive family history were below 45 years of age, whereas only 1 (10%) patient with age above 45 year had positive family history. One patient had malignant PHEO. Twenty three (53%) patients had elevated blood glucose. Tumor size range from 2×2×2.1 cm to16.2×9×9 cm.

Conclusion: Patients with PHEO/ PGL with positive family history are diagnosed at early age.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.