J Korean Soc Endocrinol.  2004 Aug;19(4):446-451.

A Case of Adrenocortical Carcinoma with Concurrent Cushing's Syndrome and Primary Aldosteronism

• Lee CW
• Yoon HJ
• Hwang WM
• Kim JK
• Koo HS
• Lim DM
• Choi EG
• Na MJ
• Cho DY
• Kim BK
• Choi IS
• Park KY

Abstract

An adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare malignancy, which is associated with a poor prognosis. Eighty percent of adrenal tumors are functional, and commonly secrete glucocorticoids alone (45%), glucocorticoids and androgens (45%) or androgen alone (10%). Less than 1% of all cases secrete aldosterone. A case of a 75 year old female patient was experienced, presenting with anadrenocortical carcinoma and associated concurrent Cushing's syndrome and primary aldosteronism. She had complained of left flank pain for 5 months, and also showed clinical features of Cushing's syndrome, hypertension, hypokalemia and a left abdominal mass. An abdominal CT* demonstrated a large left adrenal mass, with necrosis, and a hemorrhage in the left upper abdomen. The plasma renin activity was 0.51 ng/ml/hr, and the serum aldosterone level was increased by 46.4 ng/dL. A low and high dose dexamethasone suppression test revealed no suppression. Histologically, the tumor was diagnosed as a adrenocortical carcinoma. After complete removal of the mass, she received mitotan and prednisolone as adjuvant therapies. Liver and bone metastasis occurred after 6 months of treatment, so was treated with palliative radiotherapy for the bone metastasis

MeSH Terms

Abdomen
Adrenocortical Carcinoma*
Aged
Aldosterone
Androgens
Cushing Syndrome*
Dexamethasone
Female
Flank Pain
Glucocorticoids
Hemorrhage
Humans
Hyperaldosteronism*
Hypertension
Hypokalemia
Liver
Necrosis
Neoplasm Metastasis
Plasma
Prednisolone
Prognosis
Radiotherapy
Renin
Aldosterone
Androgens
Dexamethasone
Glucocorticoids
Prednisolone
Renin