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Endocrine Abstracts (2016) 44 OC4.6 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.44.OC4.6

SFEBES2016 Oral Communications Adrenal and Steroids (6 abstracts)

Demographics of adrenal incidentaloma – results from an international prospective multi-centre study in 2190 patients

Irina Bancos 1, , Vasileios Chortis 2, , Katharina Lang 2, , Massimo Terzolo 3 , Martin Fassnacht 5 , Marcus Quinkler 8 , Darko Kastelan 9 , Dimitra Vassiliadi 7 , Felix Beuschlein 6 , Urszula Ambroziak 4 , Jonathan Deeks 2, & Wiebke Arlt 2,


1Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA; 2Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK; 3University of Turin, Turin, Italy; 4Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny, Warszawa, Poland; 5Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; 6Klinikum der Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München, München, Germany; 7Attiko University Hospital, Athens, Greece; 8Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; 9University Hospital Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia; 10Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK; 11Centre for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Birmingham Health Partners, Birmingham, UK.


Background: Adrenal masses are discovered in 5% of cross-sectional abdominal imaging scans. Work-up aims at exclusion of malignancy and hormone excess. However, estimates of these risks presently derive from retrospective studies only, mostly small and with significant selection bias.

Methods: Prospective multi-centre study (2011–2016) in 21 centres (17 countries) of the European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumours (ENSAT) with consecutive enrolment of patients with newly diagnosed adrenal mass. Extra-adrenal malignancy and biochemically proven phaeochromocytoma were exclusion criteria. Diagnosis was confirmed by histology or imaging follow-up.

Results: We enrolled 2190 patients with an adrenal mass (median size 3 cm). Overall, 1933 (88%) had an adrenocortical adenoma (ACA) and 73 (3%) were diagnosed with other benign masses (adrenomyelolipoma, ganglioneuroma, schwannoma, cyst). In addition, 155 patients (7.1%) were diagnosed with adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) and 29 (1.3%) with other malignant masses (metastases, primary adrenal lymphoma, sarcoma). Risk of ACC was highest in young patients (<40 yrs 22%; 40–60 yrs 9%; >60 yrs 5%). In adrenal masses <4 cm diameter, ACC was diagnosed in only 0.2% (3/1666) whereas an incidence of 29% (152/524) was found in masses >4 cm.

CT imaging with quantification of tumour density in Hounsfield units (HU) was available for 1252 ACA patients; of those, only 67% had HU<10 indicative of benign disease (10–20 HU 14%; >20HU 19%). Similarly, 24% of 233 ACA patients characterised by MRI showed no drop in signal intensity in chemical shift analysis, wrongly suggestive of malignant disease. Incidence of subclinical Cushing syndrome was 33% (517/1555) in patients with dexamethasone overnight suppression test results. Adrenalectomy was performed in 18.6% (379/2035) of patients with benign tumours.

Conclusion: Risk of ACC needs to be seriously considered in patients with adrenal incidentaloma. On the other hand, benign masses are frequently misclassified as malignant by routine imaging, resulting in a high rate of unnecessary adrenalectomies.

Volume 44

Society for Endocrinology BES 2016

Brighton, UK
07 Nov 2016 - 09 Nov 2016

Society for Endocrinology 

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