Urinary Free Metanephrines for Diagnosis of Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma
- Author:
Jiyeon AHN
1
;
Ji Yun PARK
;
Gyuri KIM
;
Sang-Man JIN
;
Kyu Yeon HUR
;
Soo-Youn LEE
;
Jae Hyeon KIM
Author Information
- Publication Type:Brief Report
- From:Endocrinology and Metabolism 2021;36(3):697-701
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background:Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL) is diagnosed through biochemical confirmation of excessive catecholamines in urine and plasma. Recent technological developments have allowed us to measure urinary free metanephrines; however, the diagnostic accuracy of these new methods and the diagnostic cutoff values have not been evaluated.
Methods:This is a retrospective study of 595 subjects, including 71 PPGL cases and 524 controls. PPGL was based on pathological confirmation. Subjects with no evidence of PPGL over 2 years were included in the control group.
Results:Urinary free metanephrines yielded similar area under the curve (AUC) to urinary fractionated metanephrines and plasma free metanephrines. However, urinary free normetanephrine yielded a better AUC than did urinary fractionated normetanephrine. The optimal cutoff for urinary free metanephrine and normetanephrine corrected for urinary creatinine yielded 97.2% sensitivity and 98.1% specificity.
Conclusion:Urinary free metanephrines are a reliable method for diagnosing PPGL in Asian populations compared with existing biochemical methods.
