Radiology of the adrenal incidentalomas. Review of the literature

Abstract

The term “adrenal incidentaloma” is a radiological term. Adrenal incidentalomas are adrenal tumors discovered in an imaging study that has been obtained for indications exclusive to adrenal conditions (Udelsman 2001; Linos 2003; Bulow et al. 2006; Anagnostis et al. 2009). This definition excludes patients undergoing imaging testing as part of staging and work-up for cancer (Grumbach et al. 2003; Anagnostis et al. 2009). Papierska et al. (2013) have added the prerequisite that the size of a tumor must be “greater than 1cm in diameter”, in order to be called incidentaloma. Although in the most cases these masses are non-hypersecreting and benign, they still represent an important clinical concern because of the risk of malignancy or hormone hyperfunction (Barzon et al. 2003). Th e adrenal tumors belong to the commonest incidental findings having been discovered (Kanagarajah et al. 2012).

Keywords

• adrenal incidentaloma
• radiology
• ultrasound
• computer tomography
• magnatic resonance
• functional imaging