Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Practice Point
  • Published:

Use of plasma chromogranin A and urine fractionated metanephrines to diagnose pheochromocytoma?

Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism volume 4, pages 314–315 (2008)Cite this article

boxed-textAlgeciras-Schimnich A et al. (2008) Plasma chromogranin A or urine fractionated metanephrines follow-up testing improves the diagnostic accuracy of plasma fractionated metanephrines for pheochromocytoma. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 93: 91–95

Biochemical diagnosis should be confirmed with urinary fractionated metanephrine or plasma chromogranin A tests before engaging in costly imaging tests in patients with plasma free metanephrine levels up to three-fold higher than normal

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Grossman A et al. (2006) Biochemical diagnosis and localization of pheochromocytoma: can we reach a consensus? Ann NY Acad Sci 1073: 332–347

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Pacak K et al. (2007) Pheochromocytoma: recommendations for clinical practice from the First International Symposium. October 2005. Nat Clin Pract Endocrinol Metab 3: 92–102

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Héron E et al. (1996) The urinary metanephrine-to-creatinine ratio for the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma. Ann Intern Med 125: 300–303

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Perry CG et al. (2007) The diagnostic efficacy of urinary fractionated metanephrines measured by tandem mass spectrometry in detection of pheochromocytoma. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 66: 703–708

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Lenders JW et al. (2002) Biochemical diagnosis of pheochromocytoma: which test is best? JAMA 287: 1427–1434

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The synopsis was written by Vicky Heath, Associate Editor, Nature Clinical Practice.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Hypertension Unit, Hôpital Européen Georges, Pompidou, 20 rue Leblanc, 75908 Paris cedex 15, France pierre-francois.plouin@egp.aphp.fr

Authors and Affiliations

  1. P-F Plouin is a Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Université Paris Descartes, Faculté de Médecine, AP-HP, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou and INSERM U772, Collège de France, Paris, France.,

    Pierre-François Plouin

Authors
  1. Pierre-François Plouin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Plouin, PF. Use of plasma chromogranin A and urine fractionated metanephrines to diagnose pheochromocytoma?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 4, 314–315 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpendmet0812

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpendmet0812

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing