28 Jul Bilateral Adrenal Incidentalomas May Have Different Etiology Than Unilateral

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Quan-Yang Duh MD
Chief, Section of Endocrine Surgery
UCSF Medical Center

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Dr. Quan-Yang Duh: At UCSF we have a monthly Adrenal Conference (involving surgeons, endocrinologists and radiologists) to discuss patients we are consulted for adrenal tumors. About 30% of these are for incidentally discovered adrenal tumors (versus those found because of specific indications such as clinical suspicion or genetic screening). Of these 15-20% has bilateral adrenal tumors.

The evaluation of unilateral incidentaloma has been very well studied and many national guidelines have been published with specific management recommendations. So during our monthly adrenal conference, we have a routine “script” for evaluation and recommendations (rule out metastasis by looking for primary cancer elsewhere, rule out pheochromocytoma and Cushing, resect secreting tumors or large tumors, and if no operation recommended repeat scan in 6 months, etc.). This “script” has worked very well for patients with unilateral incidentaloma.

However, we were less certain when we made recommendations about bilateral incidentalomas because there was very little literature or guidelines written about it. We had some gut feelings, but we were not sure that we were recommending the right things. We needed more data. That was the main reason for the study.

What we found in our study was that although the possible subclinical diseases were the same – hypercortisolism and pheochromocytoma, the probabilities were different. The patients with bilateral incidentalomas were more likely to have subclinical Cushing’s and less likely to have pheochromocytomas than those with unilateral incidentalomas.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Quan-Yang Duh: The work up for bilateral adrenal incidentalomas is similar to that for unilateral incidentalomas. However, patients with bilateral incidentalomas are more likely to have subclinical Cushing’s and less likely to have pheochromocytoma. This difference should be kept in mind when clinicians evaluating these patients.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Quan-Yang Duh: Because our study used data that were from patients who were referred to us to be discussed at our Adrenal Conference, there is likely to be a selection bias (probably higher proportion with clinically significant diseases). It would be interesting to prospectively study ALL patients with adrenal  from a radiology department and see whether our results are confirmed.

Citation:

[wysija_form id=”5″]

Quan-Yang Duh MD (2015). Bilateral Adrenal Incidentalomas May Have Different Etiology Than Unilateral MedicalResearch.com

Last Updated on July 28, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD