J Korean Soc Endocrinol.  1996 Jun;11(2):233-239.

Nerepinephrine Secreting Pheochromocytoma in the Organ of Zuckerkandl With Epinephrine Granules in Cytoplasm

• Kim ES
• Lee GR
• Lee WS
• Lee JA
• Jang JJ
• Sunwoo IC
• Kim DH
• Lee GS

Abstract

Extraadrenal pheochromocytomas developed from the paraganglia other than adrenal medulla are uncommon tumors. Such lesions have been reported that as much as 10% of retroperitoneal paragliomas arise outside the adrenal gland. But their incidence and prognosis are changing partly as a result of progression in developmental mechanism, diagnostic tools and concepts including ultrastructure, immunohistochemistry. The ultrastructure of chromaffine neoplasm from adrenal and extraadrenal tissues has been studied with chrarnaffine granule specificity and type of catecholamine content. With rare exceptions, extraadrenal chrornaffine tumor mainly has high concentration of norepinephrine which is suggested as dict relationship to numoruos electrone dense granular bodies in the cell cytoplasrn. High or intermediate level of epinephrine in tissue is associated with cytoplasmic granular bodies of much less density, Recently we experienced the exception, a case of norepinephrine secreting pheochrom-ocytoma in the organ of Zuckerkandl with epinephrine granules in cytoplasm and this discrepancy probably due to the plasticity - the differences in developmental process and local factors between adrenal medulla and extraadrenal tissues.

MeSH Terms

Adrenal Glands
Adrenal Medulla
Cytoplasm*
Epinephrine*
Immunohistochemistry
Incidence
Norepinephrine
Para-Aortic Bodies*
Pheochromocytoma*
Plastics
Prognosis
Sensitivity and Specificity
Epinephrine
Norepinephrine
Plastics