Massive retroperitoneal hemorrhage from an asymptomatic adrenal cortical adenoma. Report of a case

A 52-year-old man was admitted to the General Surgical Service, with acute onset of left back and flank pain. Two weeks prior to admission he had been subjected to a 3G to 4G acceleration in an ejection seat training simulator. On the day of admission, he had performed a 100 yard swim in flight gear following a seven foot jump into water. He denied any injury during the above exercises or any other trauma. A falling hematocrit was demonstrated by serial determinations and a computerized tomography scan revealed a left retroperitoneal hematoma with normal bilateral renal function and no obvious renal injury. Continued hemorrhage resulted in laparotomy, which showed an 11 cm left adrenal tumor with massive hemorrhage into the retroperitoneum. Histologically the tumor was a benign non-functioning adrenal cortical adenoma.