[Diagnostic value of high performance liquid chromatography of corticosteroids in diseases of the pituitary system].

A hundred and ninety-one patients with different adrenal cortical tumors were studied to assess the diagnostic value of HPLC of corticosteroids in the biological fluids. HPLC of corticosteroids in the biological fluids revealed the signs of the hormonal activity of incidentalomas, organic endogenous hypercorticism, and mass malignancy. Some patients with adrenal cortical incidentalomas (15.5%) were found to have impaired steroid formation that is typical of 11ß-OH- or 17-OH-hydroxylase deficiencies. The findings allow one to diagnose adrenal disorders at the early stages of disease and to define indications for surgical treatment.