Clinical and endocrinological characteristics of adrenal incidentaloma in Osaka region, Japan

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and endocrinological characteristics of adrenal incidentalomas in Osaka region, Japan. The study was a multicenter retrospective analysis of 150 patients with adrenal incidentalomas who underwent radiographic and endocrine evaluations between 2005 and 2013. Most adrenal incidentalomas were discovered by computed tomography (77.0%) and the rest were identified by abdominal ultrasonography (14.6%), magnetic resonance imaging (4.2%), or positron emission tomography (4.2%). Adrenal incidentalomas were more frequently localized on the left side than on the right. The average diameter of tumors was 21 ± 11 mm. On endocrinological evaluation, 14 patients were diagnosed with primary aldosteronism (9.3%), 10 with subclinical Cushing’s syndrome (6.7%), 7 with pheochromocytoma (4.7%), 7 with Cushing’s syndrome (4.7%), 2 with both subclinical Cushing’s syndrome and primary aldosteronism (1.3%), and 110 with non-functioning tumors (73.3%). Patients with functioning tumors were significantly younger and had larger tumor diameters than those with non-functioning tumors. Except for hypertension, complications were comparable between patients with functioning and non-functioning tumors, including the presence of glucose intolerance, cardiovascular disease, and dyslipidemia. In conclusion, a higher prevalence of primary aldosteronism was observed compared with a previous report. Complications were comparable between patients with functioning and non-functioning tumors, including the frequencies of glucose intolerance, cardiovascular disease, and dyslipidemia. Long-term follow-up is required in patients with non-functioning tumors because the frequency of complications, such as glucose intolerance, cardiovascular disease, and dyslipidemia, was equal to that in patients with functioning tumors.