THE DEVELOPMENT of methods for determination of norepinephrine (levarterenol) (NE) and epinephrine (E) concentration in tumor tissue and for the assay of the principal metabolites of these catecholamines in urine has made it possible to compute the turnover of NE and E in pheochromocytomas. We have recently had the opportunity to study a child with a pheochromocytoma with severe hypertension and to determine the turnover of NE and E in this tumor. The turnover of catecholamines in this case is higher than in any previously reported. Electron micrographs demonstrating the presence of electron-dense (catecholamine) granules were prepared from this tumor.
Crout and Sjoerdsma1 have reported turnover of catecholamines in 22 cases of pheochromocytoma (including five children). We have determined the turnover of catecholamines in nine additional cases of pheochromocytoma in adults.2 In this paper we wish to compare the turnover of catecholamines in pheochromocytoma occurring in children with