Lina Ščerbinskaitė, Aušra Bradulskytė, Milda Girdžiūtė, Vilija Guntaitė, Žydrūnė Visockienė
Abstract
Background. Adrenal masses are common finding in abdominal scaning. In order to determine functional activity hormonal testing is required. Objective. The aim of the study was to compare the assessment strategy in patients for the first time diagnosed with adrenal masses at Vilnius University Hospital Santariskiu Clinics in 2010 and 2014. Methods. There were 383 cases with adrenal masses diagnosed at the mentioned time points, 195 – for the first time and thus included into further analysis. All subjects were grouped into symptomatic (arterial hypertension and/or episodic elevations of blood pressure, and/or weight gain, and/or hypokalemia) and asymptomatic as well as those with incidentally or purposively discovered masses. All adrenal masses were assessed for hormonal activity. Results. More than two-thirds of adrenal masses were found incidentally, and about half of them did not cause any symptoms. The main characteristics of patients and adrenal masses did not differ significantly comparing 2010 and 2014. The average size of adrenal masses were 23,8 ± 16,7 mm in 2010 and 20,8 ± 13,0 mm in 2014. There was higher frequency of hormonal testing that resulted in almost twice more aldosteromas diagnosed in 2014 compared to 2010, but not other secreting adrenal tumors. Conclusions. The vast majority of patients with adrenal masses did not have any symptoms and masses were discovered incidentally. The higher frequency of hormonal testing in 2014 led to diagnosis of almost twice more aldosteronomas, but not other secreting adrenal tumors.
Keyword(s): adrenal masses; computed tomography; an overnight dexamethasone suppression test; plasma-free metanephrines; aldosteronoma.
DOI: 10.5200/sm-hs.2017.026
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