Incidentally Solitary, Synchronous, Metastatic Left Adrenal Mass From Colon Cancer

ABSTRACT

The authors report the case of a 63-year-old man who underwent an open adrenalectomy for a synchronous, malignant, metastatic left adrenal tumor and a total colectomy for T3N0M1 (stage 4) primary, malignant colon cancer. Two polypoid lesions, one measuring 40 mm × 30 mm × 30 mm and the other measuring 20 mm × 10 mm × 10 mm, were found in the ascending colon and rectosigmoid (RS) junction, respectively, and a synchronous, malignant, left adrenal gland lesion measuring 70 mm × 50 mm × 30 mm was incidentally found on abdominal computed tomography scan. Histological examination revealed a metastatic, necrotic adenocarcinoma of the left adrenal mass, an adenocarcinoma of the cecal mass, and an adenomatous polyp (tubulovillous type) of the smallest polypoid lesion in RS junction that had invaded deeply into the submucosal layer. The patient recovered uneventfully, and his condition is now stable, with no evidence of local recurrence or metastatic disease, 2 years after the surgery. To the best of our knowledge, only 25 cases of an adrenalectomy for treating metastatic adrenal gland tumors have been reported to date; physicians should be aware of the possibility of this event.