Abstract
The excretion of doma in 24 hour urine was determined in 15 normal subjects, 32 patients with hypertension including 5 cases of pheochromocytoma, and 10 patients with hyperthyroidism, using the high-voltage paper electrophoretic method. Estimation by this method revealed that the excretion of doma in the normal subjects amounted 40_??_180μg/day (mean 99.9±43.1μg). In hyperthyroid or hypertensive patients except the cases of pheochromocytoma, the excre-tion of doma was almost equal to that in normal subjects. But the excretion of doma, as well as catecholamines and the other metabolites of catecholamines, was markedly increased in patients with pheochromocytoma. Moreover, in this disease the urinary excretion ratio of catecholamines/doma/methoxycatechol-amines/VMA was always in good agreement with the reported excretion ratio obtained in man after the infusion of catecholamines.
From these findings, it was supposed that there were no overproduction and no metabolic disturbances of catecholamines in hypertension without pheo-chromocytoma and in hyperthyroidism. It was concluded that estimation of doma in urine could facilitate the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma, and that the catecholamines secreted from the tumors in the cases reported here are metabolized in the same fashion as exogenously administered catecholamines.
