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Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 2019; 127(02/03): 129-136
DOI: 10.1055/a-0649-0960
Review
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Metabolic Alterations in Patients with Pheochromocytoma

Zoran Erlic
1   Klinik für Endokrinologie, Diabetologie und Klinische Ernährung, Universitätsspital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
,
Felix Beuschlein
1   Klinik für Endokrinologie, Diabetologie und Klinische Ernährung, Universitätsspital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
2   Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, Klinikum der Universität München, Munich, Germany
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Publication History

received 14 May 2018
revised 04 June 2018

accepted 26 June 2018

Publication Date:
16 July 2018 (online)

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Abstract

Metabolic alterations in patients with hormonally active pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma (PPGL) have been described early on in the literature. The initial findings were related to disturbed glucose homeostasis and lipolysis activation, as well as elevated metabolic rates in affected patients. Similarly, from early autopsy reports, the presence of brown adipose tissue had been noted in PPGL patients. In more recent years, changes in body weight, fat mass and distribution have been analyzed in more detail in addition to activity of brown adipose tissue based on functional imaging techniques. Over the last decades, several larger case series and cohort studies have contributed towards the elucidation of possible mechanism contributing to these clinical observations. Herein, we summarize the clinical and experimental data regarding metabolic alterations and related clinical manifestations in PPGL patients.

Key words

pheochromocytoma - catecholamine - lipid metabolism - glucose metabolism - adipose tissue - bone disease
 

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