Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The metabolic complications in adrenal tumors, regardless secretor or not, are a common finding, thus representing a supplementary warning in these patients related to the non-endocrine therapy as anti-hypertensives, or hypolipemiants drugs, etc.

Aim: We analyze the frequency of metabolic complications in primitive adrenal tumors.

Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study in patients diagnosed with adrenal tumors (secretor or non-secretor tumors). The patients with Cushing’s disease were not included, regardless the adrenal aspect. The histological confirmation was obtained in all the secretor cases and only in 19% of non-secretor adrenal tumors (incidentalomas) where surgery was not performed. This is a retrospective study.

Results: Fifty-six patients were registered. 14.28% of cases had bilateral tumors. The mean age was 48.2 years. 12.5% of patients were men. 8.9% of patients had adrenal Cushing.12.5% had pheocromocytoma. 14.28% had adrenal cancer. 57.1% had non-secretor adrenal tumors. The others had rare diagnosis as gangliocytoma or schwannoma. All the patients with phecromocytoma and adrenal Cushing had different types of arterial high blood pressure and 56.2% of the patients with incidentalomas (essential hypertension). 60% of patients with adrenal Cushing had diabetes mellitus, 28.57% of those with pheocromocytoma, and 21.8% of those with incidentalomas. 80% of patients with adrenal Cushing were non-normal weighted. 65.62% of the patients with non-secretor tumors were obese or over-weighted. 80% of patients with Cushing syndrome had high blood cholesterol, and 42.85% of those with pheocromocytoma, and 46.87% of those with incidentalomas. We found no correlations between the metabolic component and the tumor size as pointed by computed-tomography, or the hormonal levels in secretor tumors.

Conclusion: In our study, the metabolic complications were found in more than half of the patients, regardless the secretor profile but the relationship to the adrenal hormones production is not presented in non-secretor tumors, thus an essential overlapping component as metabolic syndrome is associated.