[A case report of non-functioning adrenal carcinoma diagnosed by percutaneous needle biopsy and which responded to...

A 51-year-old female complained of right upper abdominal pain. Non-functioning adrenal carcinoma was suspected from the laboratory data of elevated lactate dehydrogenase level and total amount of urinary excretion of 17-ketosteroid. To deny the possibility of other diseases, such as retroperitoneal sarcoma, a percutaneous needle biopsy of the tumor was carried out. As the pathological diagnosis was adrenal carcinoma, pre-operative chemotherapy consisting of cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum (CDDP), adriamycin, 5-fluorouracil, cyclophosphamide and o,p'-DDD was carried out twice. The tumor size decreased after chemotherapy, and we could operate on the patient safely and relatively easily. Almost all of the tumor was replaced by a necrotic mass. However, cancer cells still remained in the peripheral lesion of the tumor, and the pathological diagnosis was the same as that of biopsy specimen. Although chemotherapy of adrenal carcinoma has not been established yet, we believe from the experience of this case that this disease should be treated by chemotherapy including CDDP.