Endocrine Abstracts

Objective

Describe the clinical, paraclinical, etiological and therapeutic profile of adrenal incidentalomas.

Material and methods

Retrospective study, conducted on 100 patients previously hospitalized in the endocrinology department of the university hospital center RABTA, following the fortuitous discovery of an adrenal mass over a period of 10 years.

Results

The mean age of the patients was 58 years (24–82 years), the sex ratio (M/F) was 0.69 and the mean BMI was 30.05 kg/m² (16.18–48.00 kg/m²). The most frequent finding circumstances of adrenal incidentaloma were abdominal pain (36 cases) and lumbar pain (17 cases). Bilaterality was objectified in 33.7% of the cases. The size of the AIs varied between 3 mm and 120 mm on the right with an average of 31 mm, and between 6 mm and 110 mm on the left with an average of 24 mm. Hormonal assessment revealed hypercorticism in 10 patients (11.5% of patients), pheochromocytoma in 6 patients (6.9%), Conn’s adenoma in 4 patients (4.6%), and a non-secretory nodule in 67 patients (77% of patients). Only sixteen (16) patients underwent adrenalectomy.

Discussion

Due to the development of medical imaging techniques, the incidental discovery of adrenal masses has become increasingly common. Adrenal incidentalomas constitute an entity with varied, sometimes even serious, etiologies, the exploration of which must be rational and well codified.