MALIGNANT PHEOCHROMOCYTOMA. REPORT OF A CASE IN A 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL.

A case of malignant pheochromocytoma during a 6-year period in a 12-year-old, obese, white girl represents the first recorded case to meet the most stringent criteria for a diagnosis of malignant pheochromocytoma, namely, that metastases occur at a site where aberrant endocrine tissue is not otherwise found, and that secretory function be proved by the presence of appropriate hormone in the metastases and their secretions. Studies of the clinical course of pheochromocytoma in children during the past decade and a half have shown that this tumor may be familial, may frequently be extraadrenal, may be recurrent, and may be malignant, as demonstrated by this case.