32-year survival with metastatic adrenal cortical carcinoma--update of a case report

Adrenal cortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and highly malignant tumour with up to 70% of the patients diagnosed at an advanced clinical stage and up to 40% presenting with metastasis. In 2004, we reported a case of a 62-year-old woman with a non-functional ACC of the left adrenal gland (T2 N0 M0, classified as stage II) who survived the disease for 28 years with 3 operations for metastases of the contralateral adrenal gland and 4 operations for metastases of the lung. We can now give an update of a further four years of survival and one additional operation. The case again emphasises the need for thorough radiographic examination and follow-up for the possibility of a repeated re-operation whenever possible to provide long-term survival over decades.