The mechanisms that turn healthy cells in the adrenal glands into tumors is still somewhat of a mystery. A couple of identified causes include inherited traits called multiple endocrine neoplasia, von Hippel-Lindau disease, and neurofibromatosis. All of these conditions cause pheochromocytomas to develop in chromaffin cells outside of the adrenal gland. However, inherited causes only account for about 10 percent of the cases of pheochromocytomas.
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