title: Imaging of rare medullary adrenal tumours in adults.
abstract: Although adrenal medullary tumours are rare, they have important clinical implications. They form a heterogeneous group of tumours, ranging from benign, non-secretory, incidental masses to hormonally active tumours presenting acutely, or malignant tumours with disseminated disease and a poor prognosis. Increasingly, benign masses are incidentally detected due to the widespread use of imaging and routine medical check-ups. This review aims to illustrate the multimodality imaging appearances of rare adrenal medullary tumours, excluding the more common phaeochromocytomas, with clues to the diagnosis and to summarise relevant epidemiological and clinical data. Careful correlation of clinical presentation, hormone profile, and various imaging techniques narrow the differential diagnosis. Image-guided percutaneous adrenal biopsy can provide a definitive diagnosis, allowing for conservative management in selected cases. A close collaboration between the radiologist, endocrinologist, and surgeon is of the utmost importance in the management of these tumours.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Barts Health, West Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE, UK. Electronic address: tina_maciel@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Maciel
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Barts Health, West Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE, UK.
authors.forename: Y Z
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Barts Health, West Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE, UK.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coniglio
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Barts Health, West Smithfield, London EC1A 7BE, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sahdev
mesh_terms: D000310:Adrenal Gland Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D000313:Adrenal Medulla; D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005729:Ganglioneuroma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010673:Pheochromocytoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D055815:Young Adult