Clinical analysis of bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics in patients with bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia ( BMAH). Methods We enrolled 357 patients with adrenal tumors including 42 BMAH, 167 cortisol-producing adrenal adenoma (CPA), and 148 non-functional adenomas (NFA). The clinical manifestations, hormonal explorations and complications were compared among groups. Results (1) Age at diagnosis of BMAH group was significantly higher than that of CPA group [(53.7±8.3 vs 41.1±13.1)years], female proportion of BMAH group was lower that that of CPA group(54.8%vs 88.0%, P＜0.01). Both were similar to NFA group. (2) Compared to NFA group, metabolic abnormalities were severer in BMAH and CPA groups. Prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hypokalemia were the highest in BMAH group. ( 3) BMAH patients had lower midnight serum cortisol, 24 hour urine free cortisol, and adrenocorticotrophic hormone levels than CPA patients (P＝0.008, 0.010, and P＝0.001, respectively). The suppression rate of serum cortisol after low-dose dexamethasone suppression test was significantly higher in BMAH group ( P＝ 0. 005). Conclusion BMAH patients were at higher age at diagnosis. Although hypercortisolism in BMAH patients is relatively slight, metabolic abnormalities are more severe. Besides functional diagnosis, physicians should pay more attention to the assessment of complications related to hypercortisolism.