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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Non-invasive Imaging of Acute Allograft Rejection after Rat Renal Transplantation Using 18F-FDG PET
Published on: April 28, 2013
[Adrenal involvement in renal carcinoma. Diagnostic value of computerized tomography]
P Saggin1, G Prati, S Montemezzi
1Servizio di Radiologia, Casa di Cura Villa Berica, Vicenza.
Purpose:
We investigated the sensitivity and specificity of computed tomography (CT) in the detection of ipsilateral involvement of the adrenal glands by renal cancer.
Material And Methods:
We reviewed 350 cases of radical nephrectomy for renal cancer; the adrenal gland had been removed during nephrectomy in 185 cases.
Results:
Histology confirmed adrenal gland involvement from renal cancer in 9 cases, namely 4 metastatic nodules and 5 cases of direct tumor invasion. Adrenal involvement was identified by preoperative CT in 3 cases only: the gland was undetectable in 2 of them, being masked by a large tumor mass, while it appeared normal on CT images in the 4 patients with metastatic nodules.
Conclusions:
An adrenal gland appearing normal during preoperative CT assessment of renal cancer is not very likely to be involved by cancer (2.4% of cases in our series), while a gland missed at CT is very likely involved because it may be masked by a large tumor.
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