Today, the findings of biochemistry are used in many areas, from genetics to molecular biology and from agriculture to medicine. The first application of biochemistry was probably the making of bread using yeast, about 5000 years ago.
Categories
Biochemistry is principally concerned with the chemistry of substances that can be classified into a few major categories:
Measurements of the combined sum of urinary outputs of normetanephrine and metanephrine in sulfate-conjugated plus free form (commonly known as urinary total metanephrines), as measured by out-dated spectrofluorometric methods, are not sensitive tests of a pheochromocytoma and have limited value in the initial work-up of a patient suspected of having a pheochromocytoma.
Ultimately, it is a combination of biochemical and radiological tests combined with clinical assessment of symptoms, signs and associated conditions that provides the clinician with sufficient evidence to establish or refute the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma.
This pattern of biochemical test results combined with a negative clonidine suppression test result (i.e., a substantial decrease in plasma norepinephrine after clonidine) is highly suggestive of sympathetic activation rather than a tumor, and, unless imaging studies suggest otherwise, a pheochromocytoma can be excluded and no further tests should be necessary.
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