Strategic management of adrenal tumors

Adrenal tumors--large and small, symptomatic and asymptomatic, benign and malignant--are being diagnosed with increasing frequency. Patients presenting with endocrine syndromes symptomatic of adrenal tumors require meticulous, considerate history taking, thorough physical examination, and careful planning for medical management and/or surgical removal. Adrenal tumors discovered in the absence of endocrine syndromes, and which are greater than 5 cm in diameter, require careful biochemical and imaging investigation before removal, since their rate of malignancy increases with size. Adrenal masses less than 4 cm in diameter present in the absence of endocrine syndromes can, after full endocrine and imaging evaluation, be carefully observed. Even with optimal surgical/medical management, malignant disease of the adrenal glands presents a poor outcome. This paper reviews the broad management of adrenal tumors, including a personal experience with a challenging case of adrenal adenocarcinoma.