Adrenal tumors: 10-year experience at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital and literature review.

We report our 10-year experience of managing adrenal tumors at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital (KMUH) between January 1992 and January 2002. In total, 53 patients with adrenal tumors were analyzed, including 19 men (mean age +/- standard deviation, SD, 41.8 +/- 12.9 yr; range, 24-66 yr) and 34 women (mean age +/- SD, 42.3 +/- 12.4 yr; range, 19-74 yr), with an overall mean age +/- SD of 42.6 +/- 12.5 years. All 53 adrenal tumors were confirmed by surgery and pathology. In our series, 41 (77.4%) tumors were functional, of which 39 (95%) were benign; 12 (22.6%) tumors were nonfunctional, of which two (16.7%) were malignant. Overall, women were more common than men in our series, especially in Cushing's syndrome and primary aldosteronism (female:male ratio, 4 and 1.9, respectively). Of the 41 functional adrenal tumors, 20 were primary aldosteronism, 10 were Cushing's syndrome, 10 were pheochromocytoma, and one was an androgen-producing tumor. Of the 12 nonfunctional adrenal tumors, all of which presented as adrenal incidentalomas, four were cortical adenoma, three were myelolipoma, two were ganglioneuroma, one was an adrenal cyst, one was an adrenocortical carcinoma, and one was a metastatic carcinoma. Overall, 48 patients underwent adrenalectomy, three underwent partial adrenalectomy for small and well-circumscribed tumors, and two were explored. The diagnosis and management of adrenal tumors is discussed and the literature reviewed.