[Prognosis of patients with adrenocortical carcinoma].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prognosis and influencing factors of patients with adrenocortical carcinoma.


METHODS
Thirty-five patients (20 males and 15 females) with biopsy-diagnosed adrenocortical carcinoma were followed retrospectively. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to identify factors that influenced the prognosis of the patients.


RESULTS
Three patients were classified as stage I, 15 as stage II, 12 as stage III, and 5 as stage IV. Fourteen patients were still alive and 21 died at the end of the follow-up. The patients had a median survival time of 33 months, with a survival rate of 77.1%, 62.5%, and 38.3% for the first year, second year, and fifth year respectively. The univariate analysis found no significant differences in survival rates with gender, tumor location (left or right adrenal), diameter (> or = 10 cm or <10 cm) of tumor, functionality of tumor, smoking, hypertension and hypokalemia (P > 0.05). The multivariate analysis revealed that being male, younger than 50 years, non-smoking and early-stage of tumor were significant protective factors for the survival of patients with adrenocarcinoma. Patients at stage III and stage II had 52 and 3 times higher mortality than those at stage I, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Clinical stage and age are the main factors that influence the survival of patients with adrenocortical carcinoma. Patients younger than 50 years and those with an earlier stage of tumor would have a better prognosis.
Department of Endocrinology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
Yang
Y
Liu
Chun
C
Wang
Zhen-Yu
ZY
Ding
Hui-Jiao
HJ
Chen
Xing-Wu
XW
Ran
Hui
H
Huang
D000293:Adolescent; D000306:Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult