EUS-FNA of the left adrenal gland is safe and useful

ABSTRACT

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>There are limited data on the use of endosonography-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) to determine the nature of left adrenal lesions. We described our experience in performing EUS-FNA of left adrenal lesions.</p><p><b>CLINICAL PICTURE</b>During a 20-week period, data on consecutive patients who underwent EUS with or without EUS-FNA were prospectively captured. Patients with a left adrenal mass and who underwent EUS-FNA formed our study population.</p><p><b>TREATMENT</b>EUS-FNA.</p><p><b>OUTCOME</b>A total of 119 consecutive patients underwent diagnostic EUS +/- FNA, during which the left adrenal gland was routinely examined. Twelve of these patients underwent EUS as part of lung cancer staging and among these 12 lung cancer patients, 2 had left adrenal masses detected by computed tomography (CT). EUS detected left adrenal nodules in 2 other patients which were not visualised by CT. The overall prevalence of a left adrenal mass was 3.4%; in the subgroup with confirmed lung cancer, the prevalence was 33.3%. All 4 patients were male, with a mean age of 76.3 years (range, 67 to 87). The mean size of the left adrenal lesion was 30.4 mm (range, 9 to 84.8). EUS-FNA of the left adrenal lesions was performed under Doppler guidance. The mean number of needle passes was 2 (range, 1 to 4). A cellular aspirate was obtained in all patients. No procedural complications occurred. Metastatic non-small cell lung cancer was diagnosed in 2 patients, including a lesion missed on CT. For the other 2 cases, EUS-FNA revealed benign adrenal cells.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>EUS-FNA appears safe and useful for the evaluation of left adrenal masses.</p>