Diagnosis and treatment of adrenal tumors:a review of 1006 cases / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal tumors. Methods 1 006 cases of adrenal tumors treated from 1957 to 2000 were reviewed. Results Of the 1 006 cases of adrenal tumors,845(84.0%) were functional with 12(1.4%) malignant and 161(16%) nonfunctional with 11( 6.8%) malignant.There were 180 incidentaloma including 19 pheochromocytoma.A total of 996 tumors have been surgically removed and 10 cases underwent surgical exploration only.The total mortality rate was 0.3%. Conclusions Adrenal tumors occurred mostly in patients of 30～50 years of age.The prevalence of Cushing syndrome was more in females than in males.Ultrasonography and CT are the method of choice for the localization of the tumor whereas hormone levels should be determined both in the symtomatic and asymtomatic patients with adrenal tumors.Functional adrenal tumors and solid incidentaloma of large size should be surgically removed while asymtomatic incidentaloma less than 3 cm in size could be observed and followed up and surgery might be undertaken when indicated.