title: Isolated clinical syndrome of primary aldosteronism in a patient with adrenocortical carcinoma. Case report and review of the literature.
abstract: Primary carcinoma of the adrenal cortex is an extremely rare neoplasm, accounting for an estimated 0.05-0.2% of all malignancies. Hormonally functioning tumors occur in about 50% of patients with Cushing's syndrome (50%), virilism (30%) and feminization (12%) being the most common clinical manifestations. Isolated aldosteronism caused by adrenocortical carcinoma is found in about 1-3% in patients with the clinical signs of Conn's syndrome. The only preoperative feature suggesting malignancy is a size of more than 5 cm in computed tomography. We report a rare case of a 29-year-old man with biochemically proven primary aldosteronism as the unique manifestation of a carcinoma of the right adrenal cortex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Philipps University Medical School, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weingärtner
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Gerharz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bittinger
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rosai
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leppek
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Riedmiller
mesh_terms: D000306:Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D018268:Adrenocortical Carcinoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D006929:Hyperaldosteronism / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed