[Adrenal incidentaloma: report of eight cases]

Since 1983, eight cases of adrenal incidentaloma were experienced at the Department of Urology, Wakayama Medical College and affiliated hospitals. Six adrenal masses were incidentally detected by computed tomography, and two were first noted by either ultrasonography or intravenous pyelography. Surgical exploration was performed in all cases as the final diagnostic measure. Of them, three had adrenocortical adenomas, three had adrenal cysts, one had adrenal metastasis and one had pheochromocytoma. Preoperative evaluation revealed that all patients except one with pheochromocytoma had no endocrinological abnormality. The management of the adrenal incidentaloma, which will be discovered more frequently accompanied with the increasing use of computed tomography, was discussed with special references to its precise indication of surgical treatment.