Hasan Erdem1, Süleyman Çetinkünar1, Faruk Kuyucu2, Hakan Erçil2, Mustafa Görür1, Selim Sözen3

1Clinic of General Surgery, Adana Numune Training and Research Hospital, Adana, Turkey
2Clinic of Urology, Adana Numune Training and Research Hospital, Adana, Turkey
3Department of General Surgery, Namık Kemal University School of Medicine, Tekirdağ, Turkey

Abstract

Objective: The rate of adrenal incidentalomas detected in routine diagnostic imaging techniques is approximately 4-7%. Although the lesions are generally benign, carcinoma and functional adenomas can be diagnosed with careful clinic and laboratory evaluation.
Material and Methods: Data of 13 patients who underwent surgery for an adrenal mass between January 2010-June 2014 were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: Seven (54%) patients were male, 6 (46%) were female, and the mean age was 38.2. The clinical diagnosis was pheochromacytoma in 5 patients (38.4%), non-functional adenoma in 5 (38.4), and metastatic lesion, Cushing syndrome, and adrenal carcinoma each in one patient (7.6%). Conventional open adrenalectomy was performed in 8 patients, while 5 patients underwent laparoscopic adrenalectomy.
Conclusion: Adrenal incidentalomas should be carefully evaluated for hormonal activity even if asymptomatic, and non-functional lesions should be considered as suspicious-for-malignancy. Laparoscopic adrenalectomy has become the gold standard for patients with a mass less than 6 cm, and without infiltration to adjacent organs.

Keywords: Adrenal mass, incidentaloma, surgery, laparoscopy


 

Ethics Committee Approval

Ethics committee approval was received for this study from the ethics committee of Adana Numune Training and Research Hospital.

Peer Review

Externally peer-reviewed.

Author Contributions

Concept - H.E.; Design - H.E.; Supervision - H.E., S.S.; Funding - H.E., S.Ç.; Materials - F.K., H.Erç.; Data Collection and/or Processing - H.E., M.G.; Analysis and/or Interpretation - H.E., H.Erç., S.Ç., F.K.; Literature Review - H.E., F.K.; Writer - H.E.; Critical Review - F.K., H.Erç., S.Ç., S.S.

Conflict of Interest

No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

Financial Disclosure

The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.