Objective To improve the diagnosis and treatment of asymptomatic adrenal pheochromocytoma. Method The clinical data of 33 patients with asymptomatic adrenal pheochromocytoma were reviewed. Results All the patients were not preut with typical signs and symptoms of pheochromocytoma, 16 patients were found adrenal mass by routine physical examination, 15 patients presented with superior abdominal or flank pain, 1 patient was fever and 1 patient was diarrhea. Most of patients were prent with round mass with low density in the center of the tumor,5 patients had elevated level of plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine (16% ,5/31),24 hours urine CA and VMA were elevated in 6 patients (24%, 6/25) and 5 patients (20%, 5/25) respectively, 26 patients who were suspected pheochromocytoma preoperatively were treated with α-adrenergic blockade (prazosin) to control the blood pressure or with intravenous colloid fluids and blood transfusion to expand intravascular volume before operation. The tumors were removed successfully in 32 patients, and biopsy was done in 1 patient because of the serious invasion to the vena cava by the tumor. All the patients were diagnosed pheochromocytoma histopathologically,and followed up for 1 month to 7 years, no tumor recurrence. Conclusions The patients with asymptomatic adrenal pheochromocytoma have lower catecholamine excretion in their plasma and urine. Combination of modem imaging examinations are useful methods to diagnose asymptomatic adrenal pheochromocytoma. To lower the risk of operation, the control of blood pressure and the expanding of intravascular volume are important for the patients with huge adrenal mass or typical suspected appearance of pheochromocytoma.

To investigate the potential role of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 in liver fibrosis during Echinococcus granulosus infection, 96 BALB/c mice were randomly divided into 2 groups, experimental group infected by intraperitoneal injection with a metacestode suspension and control group given sterile physiological saline. The liver and blood samples were collected at days 2, 8, 30, 90, 180, and 270 post infection (PI), and the expression of TGF-β1 mRNA and protein was determined by real-time quantitative RT-PCR and ELISA, respectively. We also evaluated the pathological changes in the liver during the infection using hematoxylin and eosin (H-E) and Masson staining of the liver sections. Pathological analysis of H-E stained infected liver sections revealed liver cell edema, bile duct proliferation, and structural damages of the liver as evidenced by not clearly visible lobular architecture of the infected liver, degeneration of liver cell vacuoles, and infiltration of lymphocytes at late stages of infection. The liver tissue sections from control mice remained normal. Masson staining showed worsening of liver fibrosis at the end stages of the infection. The levels of TGF-β1 did not show significant changes at the early stages of infection, but there were significant increases in the levels of TGF-β1 at the middle and late stages of infection (P<0.05). RT-PCR results showed that, when compared with the control group, TGF-β1 mRNA was low and comparable with that in control mice at the early stages of infection, and that it was significantly increased at day 30 PI and remained at high levels until day 270 PI (P<0.05). The results of this study suggested that increased expression of TGF-β1 during E. granulosus infection may play a significant role in liver fibrosis associated with E. granulosus infection.
Animals ; Bile Ducts ; Echinococcus granulosus* ; Echinococcus* ; Edema ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS) ; Hematoxylin ; Injections, Intraperitoneal ; Liver Cirrhosis* ; Liver* ; Lymphocytes ; Mice* ; RNA, Messenger ; Transforming Growth Factors ; Vacuoles