[Catecholamine-producing tumors of the chromaffin tissue. Morphological and ultrastructural characteristics]

Histological and ultrastructural studies were carried out in 41 hypertensive patients showing increased urine excretion of catecholamines and vanilmandelic acid due to chromaffinoma of the adrenal and other sites: malignant chromaffinoma of the adrenal, including multiple--55%, border-line chromaffinoma--34% and malignant--11% (total--53 tumors). Ultrastructurally, malignant chromaffinoma showed pronounced aniso- and poikilocytosis, lack of desmosomes, presence of dark and clear cells, irregular and bizarre-shaped nuclei and enlarged nucleoli. An inverse correlation between the level of secretory granules and that of organelles was established for all sites and patterns of growth. The data obtained suggest certain ultrastructural peculiarities which alongside with macro- and microscopic features serve identification of malignity of tumor, functional status of tumor cells and type of secretion.