Panagiotis Anagnostis, Asterios Karagiannis, Konstantinos Tziomalos, Anna I. Kakafika, Vasilios G. Athyros, Dimitri P. Mikhailidis
The widespread application of abdominal imaging procedures has resulted in an increased frequency of clinically silent adrenal masses. Adrenal incidentaloma (AI) is a term applied to an accidentally discovered adrenal mass on imaging performed for the investigation of an unrelated complaint …
Friedhelm Raue, Karin Frank-Raue
Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) is an autosomal dominant tumour syndrome caused by germline activating mutations of the RET proto-oncogene. It has a strong penetrance of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and can be associated with bilateral pheochromocytoma and primary hyperparathyroidism (MEN2A) within a single patient or family…
Zoran Erlic, Hartmut P.H. Neumann
Pheochromocytomas and Paragangliomas (PGL) form the group of paraganglial tumours which can occur in any paraganglia from the skull base to the pelvic floor. The terminology is not uniform. While the World Health Organization (WHO) applies pheochromocytoma exclusively to adrenal tumours, many clinicians use the term pheochromocytoma also for extra-adrenal abdominal and thoracic tumours, since by tradition …
Karel Pacak, Graeme Eisenhofer, Ioannis Ilias
Pheochromocytomas/paragangliomas(PHEOs/PGLs) are rare but treacherous catecholamine-producing tumors which, if overlooked or improperly treated, will almost invariably prove fatal. Patients with MEN2 PHEOs have a high incidence of paroxysmal attacks …
Vittoria Rufini, Giorgio Treglia, Germano Perotti, Alessandro Giordano
Evanthia Diamanti-Kandarakis, Evangelia Zapanti, Maria-Helen Peridis, Panayiotis Ntavos, George Mastorakos
Pheochromocytoma, a neuroendocrine tumor, is often associated with hyperglycemia. To investigate the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms, five patients (3 women and 2 men, aged 49±2.5, mean±SD) with benign adrenal pheochromocytoma were studied with an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and the euglycaemic clamp technique …
Chrysanthi Aggeli, Alexander M. Nixon, Christos Parianos, Georgios Vletsis, Labrini Papanastasiou, Athina Markou, Theodora Kounadi, Georgrios Piaditis, Georgios N. Zografos
OBJECTIVE: Resection of pheochromocytomas is a challenging procedure due to hemodynamic lability. Our aim was to evaluate surgical outcomes in 67 patients with pheochromocytoma and to validate the role of laparoscopic surgery in the treatment of these tumors. DESIGN: This study is a retrospective review. A total of 68 procedures for pheochromocytoma …
Ana Filipa Martins, João Martin Martins, Sónia do Vale, Teresa Dias, Catarina Silveira, Inês Rodrigues da Silva, Maria Carmo-Fonseca
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), pheochromocytoma and primary hyperparathyroidism. MEN2 is an autosomal dominant syndrome caused by mutations in the RET proto-oncogene …
Dimitra Zianni, Marinella Tzanela, Serafim Klimopoulos, N.C. Thalassinos
A 61-year old female presented with paroxysmal hypertension and a 4.5cm left adrenal mass on CT scan. Repeated measurements of 24-hour urinary fractionated metanephrines, total catecholamines and vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) were within normal range. A further scintigraphic study …
Andreas Kiriakopoulos, Dimitrios Papaioannou, Dimitrios Linos
Objective: Adrenal tumors present with clinical features and signs unique to their specific hormonal hypersecretion. However, there have been cases in which the clinical expression has been in conflict with the histologic features of the tumor. In this communication we report an unusual clinical presentation of an adrenal cortical tumor with histologic features …
Maria E. Barmpari, Christos Savvidis, Anastasia D. Dede, Haridimos Markogiannakis, Christina Dikoglou, Paraskevi Xekouki, Constantine A. Stratakis, Andreas Manouras, Sofia Malaktari-Skarantavou
Objective: Adrenal masses usually represent benign and nonfunctional adrenal adenomas; however, primary or metastatic malignancy should also be considered. Discovery of an adrenal mass needs further evaluation in order to exclude malignancy and hormonal secretion. We present a rare case of a possibly primary adrenal malignant melanoma with imaging and biochemical features of a pheochromocytoma. Case report: A 61-year-old male farmer was referred for evaluation …
Marios Papadakis, Andreas Manios, Georgios Schoretsanitis, Constantinos Trompoukis
The last 100 years have seen a revolution in the understanding of adrenal disease and its surgical treatment. The isolation of its hormones, the detailed study of the adrenal medulla and the cortex together with the enormous expansion of surgical methods served as catalysts to this revolution. The Greek word for adrenal (epinephridio, from the Greek epi, upon, and nephros, kidney) dates back to the age of Homer who mentions the adrenal glands …