Adrenocortical carcinoma: Diagnostic work-up and treatment

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled Adrenocortical carcinoma: Diagnostic work-up and treatment (Urologe A. 2007 Nov 22). Authors are Johanssen S, Brix D et al., from the Schwerpunkt Endokrinologie und Diabetologie, Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik I, Universitätsklinik, Würzburg, Deutschland. Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare disease with poor prognosis. Preoperatively, a thorough hormonal work-up is mandatory, as the hormonal status may influence the perioperative management and may also provide marker hormones for monitoring of tumour recurrence. CT and MRI are equally sensitive and specific imaging tools for adrenal tumours. Open adrenalectomy via a flank or thoracoabdominal approach is the standard surgical technique. Intraoperative tumour spillage should be carefully avoided. Even after R0 resection, recurrence of the disease is frequent and regular follow-up for a minimum of 5 years is required. In advanced ACC, the treatment of choice is mitotane with or without cytotoxic chemotherapy To access the full abstract of the article, click here.