Clinicopathological Features of Adrenal Tumors: a Ten-year Study in Yazd, Iran

Background: Adrenal tumors are relatively uncommon, and have different presentations, so we decided toevaluate the clinico-pathological characteristics of benign and malignant tumors in a ten-year period. Materialsand
Methods: This cross sectional-analytical study was conducted on adrenal resection samples taken during2004-2014 in three hospitals in Yazd province. Data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 17. Chi-squareand Fisher’s exact test were used as appropriate
Results: A total of 71 patients with adrenal tumors were analyzed,including 32 (45.1%) men and 39 (54.9%) women with an overall mean age 37.7±19.9 (range: 6-75 years).Some 50.7% of lesions were benign and 49.3% were malignant. Neuroblastoma was the most malignant lesion(32.3%) followed by adrenocortical carcinoma (8.4%). Among the benign lesions pheochromocytoma was themost common (25.3%) followed by adrenocortical adenoma (12.6%). While 64% of tumors were functional 36%were non functional. Significant correlation was seen between the age of patient and type of tumor (P=0.001). Inpatients between 14-40 years old no malignant lesions was found, although under 14 years old all of the tumorswere malignant. Malignant lesions mostly presented with abdominal pain, abdominal mass and anorexia (57.2%,45.7% and 45.7%) respectively. Benign lesions mostly presented with paroxysmal hypertension, headache andabdominal pain (61.2%, 47.2% and 44.4%) respectively.
Conclusions: Since the trend of adrenal tumors is onthe rise based on this and other studies, suspected cases should undergo prompt hormonal and radiologicalassessment. Early diagnosis and treatment could prevent tumor progression and reduce mortality and morbidityrates.