Computer assisted tomography of normal suprarenal glands

The anatomy of 60 right and 80 left normal suprarenal (adrenal) glands in 90 patients was studied. In the transaxial view, the glands have a triradiate shape, which varies on serial sections. The medial posterior limbs of each gland were visualized on the more cranial sections. The transaxial positions of the glands are related to the vertebrae and, on the left side, to the aorta and kidney, in accordance with known anatomical associations. The cranio-caudal positions of the glands have been defined by using the kidney as a "renal ruler". The right gland lies cranial to the anterior and medial renal margin, and it extends dorsally beyond the vertebral body in 18% of the right glands studied. The left gland lies anterior to the upper renal pole. The ease with which the glands were shown in detail by computer assisted tomography (CAT) contrasts with other methods of demonstration, namely, retroperitoneal pneumography, angiography, and venography. The difficulties of visualizing the glands with CAT are discussed and illustrated. The findings are used to suggest guidelines for conventional tomography.