Adrenal incidentaloma (AI) – a puzzle not only for an endocrinologist

Dubaj Maciej, Dembowska Aleksandra, Bigosiński Karol. Adrenal incidentaloma (AI) – a puzzle not only for an endocrinologist. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2022;12(7):730-739. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2022.12.07.071

https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/JEHS.2022.12.07.071

https://zenodo.org/record/6900018

The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. 32343.

Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences).

Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 21 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159.

Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe: Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu).

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Received: 15.07.2022. Revised: 17.07.2022. Accepted: 25.07.2022.

ADRENAL INCIDENTALOMA (AI) – A PUZZLE NOT ONLY FOR AN ENDOCRINOLOGIST

Maciej Dubaj¹, Aleksandra Dembowska¹, Karol Bigosiński¹

Maciej Dubaj – maciej.dubaj99@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4709-8677

Aleksandra Dembowska – ale.dembowska@gmail.com, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2011-7420

Karol Bigosiński – karolbig145a@wp.pl, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3613-3772

1. Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 1, 20-059 Lublin

SUMMARY

An adrenal incidentaloma (AI) is any lesion ≥ 1 cm in diameter detected during radiological diagnostics unrelated to suspected adrenal pathology. Each case of an AI requires extended hormonal and imaging assessments to accurately determine the nature of the tumor and its hormonal activity. The frequency of this tumor’s diagnostics has increased exponentially due to the continuous progress in the development of imaging methods, especially computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The most common etiology of AIs are hormonally inactive adenomas of the adrenal cortex, but there are also adrenal cortex carAIcinomas, phaeochromocytoma, metastatic or infectious lesions. In the case of confirmation of the type of lesion, the management involves adrenalectomy or a sufficiently long clinical observation. In recent years, new markers of the malignancy of AI tumors have been discovered, both in imaging and biochemical diagnostics, which is associated with improvements in the accuracy of diagnosis and patient management. The aim of this study was to describe the definition, etiology and epidemiology of AIs and to draw attention to the complexity of diagnostics and therapy of accidentally diagnosed adrenal tumors. Current publications and guidelines from scientific societies around the world were reviewed, using keywords that were compatible with MeSH.

Key words: adrenal incidentaloma, adrenal glands, tumors, adrenal cancer, pheochromocytoma