What catecholamines are produced by pheochromocytoma?
Most pheochromocytomas secrete primarily norepinephrine.
Epinephrine-secreting tumors are more commonly malignant or extra-adrenal in location. Very rarely, a tumor is deficient in dopamine beta-hydroxylase; this causes secretion of large amounts of dopamine.
Pheochromocytomas also store and secrete many peptides: endogenous opioids, endothelin, erythropoietin, parathyroid hormone-related protein, neuropeptide-Y, and chromogranin-A; the latter has been used as a diagnostic marker.