[Metastatic lesions of the adrenal glands. The experience of Endocrinology Research Center.].

Differentiation between benign, primary and secondary malignant tumors is a critical problem in the clinical treatment of adrenal tumors, especially in patients with isolated adrenal lesions. In most cases, the correct diagnosis can be established microscopically with standard staining with hematoxylin and eosin. However, there are cases when it is almost impossible to distinguish metastasis from primary adrenal cancer, so an accurate diagnosis requires an immunohistochemical examination.

[Adrenocortical cancer: morphological variants, immunohistochemical characteristics].

Unlabelled: Adrenocortical cancer (ACC) is a rare endocrine malignancy of the adrenal cortex, which has an unfavorable prognosis and extremely aggressive clinical behavior in most cases. Nevertheless, cases of a more favorable disease course with late metastasis and slow progression have been described. In 2017, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the 4 edition of the Classification of Tumors of the Endocrine Organs identified histological variants of ACC, such as classical, oncocytic, myxoid, and sarcomatoid ones, indicating the morphological heterogeneity of this tumor.

[Molecular genetic markers and criteria for the prediction of adrenocortical carcinoma].

Studies of the last decade have demonstrated that the morphological and immunophenotypic patterns of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) have a high heterogeneity in both the occurrence of various tumors and the development of a solitary tumor. Carcinogenesis of ACC, like most neoplastic processes, is associated with mutations in at least 15 driver genes, with a wide range of chromosomal aberrations, epigenomic changes, and alterations of the microRNA profile. According to the literature, isolated genetic damage is also insufficient for the manifestation of the malignant phenotype of adrenocortical cells.

[Current criteria for the diagnosis of adrenocortical carcinoma].

Adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare malignant tumor of the adrenal cortex with an unfavorable prognosis. In 2017, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) published the 4th edition of the WHO Classification of Tumors of Endocrine Organs. The updated classification reflects a multidisciplinary experience in diagnosing and predicting the course of adrenal cortex tumors, obtained on the basis of current studies.