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Background: Characterizing adrenal lesions in patients with a known primary malignancy has a vital role in treatment and prognostication. A study by Gufler et al proposed a scoring system based on density, contour, homogeneity and size and found a high accuracy in differentiating adrenal adenomas from metastasis in patients with a known malignancy. This study evaluates the sensitivity and specificity of this NECT scoring system and comparing it with that of 18F FDG PET.Methods: The study was conducted on patients with diagnosed malignancies with adrenal mass, referred for 18F-FDG PET-CT scanning as a part of work up or follows up between October 2014 and March 2016. Whole-body CT and PET images were obtained using standard protocol. NECT scoring and quantitative analysis of FDG uptake in the adrenal lesions (SUVavg analysis) is done separately.Results: Of the 50 patients studied, 33 patients had benign adrenal lesions and the rest had metastatic lesions. Most common site of primary was lung. NECT score yielded a sensitivity of 88.2%, specificity of 100% and positive predictive value of 100%. SUVavg analysis yielded a 100% sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value. Comparison of the predictive power of the two tests showed a z score of 2.5 and p value of 0.0124.Conclusions: 18-FDG PET can be considered as a gold standard for differentiating between metastasis and benign lesions of adrenal glands in patients with known primary. NECT has a comparable specificity as that of FDG PET, however with lower sensitivity.
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ObjectiveTo evaluate the priority application of thin adrenal CT scanning in out-patients with hypertension for early diagnosis of adrenal hypertension.MethodsThe patients with hypertension were collected from January to August 2009,in whom the secondary hypertension ( including endocrine and renal hypertension) and malignant cancers were excluded.All patients accepted the adrenal CT scan firstly,and then the patients with the positive result of morphological abnormalities in the adrenal CT( including adenoma and hyperplasia)were evaluated for endocrine function of adrenal glands.Results A total 362 cases of hypertension were studied,in.cluding 162 males and 200 females.The average age was (60.9 ±9.3 ) year-old,the average duration of hypertension was ( 13.8 ±5.3 ) year.After adrenal thin layer scanner CT scan,35 patients ( 9.6％ ) with adrenal abnormalities were found.Endocrine functional assessments of adrenal glands were carried out among these patients,17 cases (4.7％) with functional lesions were diagnosed,including 14 cases(3.9％ )with primary hyperaldosteronism,2 cases(0.6％ )with Cushing's syndrome,and 1 case ( 0.3％ ) with pheochromocytoma.Conclusion This study revealed that the percentage of adrenal lesions in outpatients with hypertension was 9.6％.The percentage of adrenal hypertension was 4.7％.Thin layer CT scan seems to effectively screen the adrenal hypertension with adrenal lesions,and would be helpful to the diagnosis of endocrine hypertension.