Anatomy and pathology of the adrenal glands

The adrenals are paired glands that lie in the retroperitoneum and have a close anatomic relation to the kidneys. Each gland has a cortex and a medulla, which act as separate entities. The adrenals are affected by various pathologic conditions, including congenital abnormalities, hypofunction, nodular enlargement, hyperplasia, and malignant and benign tumors. Newer developments in pathologic evaluation are fine-needle aspiration biopsy, immunohistochemistry, and ploidy and oncogene analysis.