This study aimed to elucidate the clinical diagnostic value of plasma catecholamines and their metabolites for pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PPGL)-induced secondary hypertension using ultraperformance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The study population included 155 patients with PPGL that were divided into the PPGL with hypertension (n = 79) and a PPGL without hypertension (n = 76) groups, and 90 healthy volunteers and 90 patients with primary hypertension as the control groups. UPLC-MS/MS was performed to detect plasma levels of catecholamines and their metabolites, including dopamine, vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), norepinephrine, metanephrine, and normetanephrine. Receiver operating characteristic curves were generated to analyze the diagnostic value of the plasma levels of catecholamines and their metabolites in PPGL-induced secondary hypertension. Patients in the primary hypertension and PPGL without hypertension groups had higher levels of dopamine, VMA, norepinephrine, metanephrine, and normetanephrine than patients in the normal group (all p < .05). On the other hand, patients in the PPGL with hypertension group had higher levels of dopamine, VMA, norepinephrine, metanephrine, and normetanephrine than patients in the normal, primary hypertension, and PPGL without hypertension groups (all p < .05). Collectively, our findings showed that dopamine, VMA, norepinephrine, metanephrine, and normetanephrine are all effective biomarkers for the diagnosis of PPGL and PPGL-induced secondary hypertension.

中文翻译：

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UPLC-MS/MS分析血浆儿茶酚胺及其代谢物对嗜铬细胞瘤和副神经节瘤诱发的继发性高血压的临床诊断

本研究旨在利用超高效液相色谱-质谱法 (UPLC-MS/MS) 阐明血浆儿茶酚胺及其代谢物对嗜铬细胞瘤和副神经节瘤 (PPGL) 诱发的继发性高血压的临床诊断价值。研究人群包括155名PPGL患者，分为高血压PPGL组（n  = 79）和无高血压PPGL组（n  = 76），以及90名健康志愿者和90名原发性高血压患者作为对照组。采用 UPLC-MS/MS 检测儿茶酚胺及其代谢物的血浆水平，包括多巴胺、香草扁桃酸 (VMA)、去甲肾上腺素、变肾上腺素和去甲变肾上腺素。绘制受试者工作特征曲线，分析血浆儿茶酚胺及其代谢物水平对 PPGL 诱发的继发性高血压的诊断价值。原发性高血压和无高血压 PPGL 组患者的多巴胺、VMA、去甲肾上腺素、变肾上腺素和去甲肾上腺素水平高于正常组患者（均p  < .05）。另一方面，PPGL 合并高血压组患者的多巴胺、VMA、去甲肾上腺素、变肾上腺素和去甲肾上腺素水平高于正常组、原发性高血压组和 PPGL 无高血压组患者（均p  < .05）。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，多巴胺、VMA、去甲肾上腺素、变肾上腺素和去甲变肾上腺素都是诊断 PPGL 和 PPGL 诱导的继发性高血压的有效生物标志物。