Diagnosis of Pheochromocytoma

To the Editor: The importance of the prevalence of the disease was not mentioned in the review of pheochromocytoma by Bravo and Gifford (Nov. 15 issue).¹ Although the prevalence of hypertension is high (15 to 20 per cent of the population),² the prevalence of pheochromocytoma in the Mayo Clinic series of hypertensive patients was only 0.04 per cent.³ Selection of hypertensive patients for a pheochromocytoma workup is therefore critical to increase the likelihood of disease in the group of patients studied. If all hypertensive patients were screened with a test that was 98 per cent specific and 100 per cent.