Abstract: Objective To study the relationship between serum neuron-specific enolase(NSE) and clinical features of pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma(PPGL). Methods Totally 501 PPGL patients diagnosed from January 2019 to December 2022 were divided into normal NSE group(NSE≤16.3 ng/mL) and elevated NSE group(NSE>16.3 ng/mL). The clinical characteristics were compared between the two groups. Results Compared with normal NSE group, patients in the elevated NSE group had larger diameter in primary tumor(5.00 cm vs. 4.60 cm), higher 24-hour urinary norepinephrine(NE) and 24-hour urinary dopamine(DA) levels, and a higher rate of metastasis(31.6% vs. 13.7%)(P＜0.05). NSE level was positively correlated with the primary tumor size(r=0.131, P＜0.05),24-hour urinary NE level(r=0.195, P＜0.05) and 24-hour urinary DA level(r=0.119, P＜0.05). Conclusions The level of NSE is related to tumor size, secretion function and metastasis in PPGL patients.

Key words: neuron specific enolase, pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma, catecholamine, metastasis