A case of adrenal adenoma with radiologic "cystic" appearance associated with hypophyseal adenoma]

Expansive lesions of the adrenal glands without signs of hormonal hypersecretion are usually discovered "incidentally", and are therefore called "incidentalomas". Since the silent adrenal masses constitute a heterogeneous group of lesions, the most important issue raised by the identification of these masses is their possible malignant potential. Therefore, the age and sex of the patients, the size of the mass, its imaging characteristic and its histologic features are the most important factors in the assessment of nonfunctioning adrenal masses. We report here the case of a women, aged 43 years mild hypertension, harbouring a great adrenal mass of 8 cm diameter, with cystic appearance at CT scan and ultrasonography, it did not show any uptake after 75Se-Seleniumcholesterol or 131I-Metaiodobenzyl-guanidine. The patient was also affected by mild hyperprolactinemia caused a small pituitary adenoma. After selective venography, she underwent the surgical removal of the left adrenal gland with its mass, which showed a hystological picture of adrenal adenoma. The postoperative course was clinically normal. The interest of this case resides: in the dimensions of the adrenal tumor (the presence of adenomas greater than 6 cm diameter is extremely rare); in the radiographic findings, showing a cystic appearance, probably related to a fluid component, in the association of adrenal and pituitary adenoma, as a possible variant of multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) of type I.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)