Long-term survival after bilateral adrenalectomy for metastatic lung cancer: a case report

Selected patients with solitary metastases from non-small cell lung cancer can benefit from an aggressive treatment approach that includes resection of the metastases. This approach has been used for solitary adrenal metastases, but successful long-term treatment of bilateral adrenal metastases has not been previously reported. This is the report of a patient with bilateral adrenal metastases from lung cancer who is disease-free 9 years after bilateral adrenalectomy and chemotherapy. From this evidence, one may hypothesize that adrenal metastases are occasionally lymphatic in origin and that metastases with this route of spread are more amenable to aggressive curative treatment than adrenal metastases of hematogenous origin.