By providing a support network, PRESSOR enables a concerted and coordinated
approach to basic and clinical research about pheochromocytoma that should lead
to improved understanding of the biology of the tumor and more rapid advances
in diagnosis, localization and management of pheochromocytoma and treatments for
patients with malignancies. WHAT ARE PHEOCHROMOCYTOMAS? Pheochromocytomas
are catecholamine producing tumors of chromaffin cells, that can occur sporadically
or as part of a familial syndrome. Ten to 15 % of patients with pheochromocytoma
develop malignant disease, which has an overall 5-year survival rate of 50%. There
are currently no effective treatments for malignant pheochromocytoma, nor reliable
pathological methods for distinguishing a benign from a malignant tumor or assessing
potential for malignancy. The rarity of pheochromocytoma and the resulting fragmented
nature of studies, typically involving small numbers of patients, represent limiting
factors to the development of effective treatments and diagnostic or prognostic
markers for malignant disease. Such development can be facilitated by the availability
of new genomics- and proteomics-based tools, but this ideally requires comprehensive
clinical studies involving large numbers of patients, stringently collected clinical
data, tumor and blood samples, and interdisciplinary collaborations among multiple
specialist centers. Second
International Symposium on Pheochromocytoma - ISP2008
Cambridge - September
17-20 | 
