© 2014 Wichtg Publishing
U
ISSN 0391-5603
Urologia ( 2015; 2): 114-117 85
CASE REPORT
limited to 20 patents in the literature (6). Bilateral adrenal
metastasis may be synchronous as well as metachronous as
in our patent. The current study was presented here as one
of the rare cases in the literature of metachronous bilateral
adrenal metastasis diagnosed asymptomatcally during re-
staging with
18
FDG-PET/CT.
Case report
Clinical and nuclear medicine features
A 61-year-old man presented for routne check for operated
lef renal tumor. He had undergone lef radical nephrectomy
24 months earlier. The primary pathology was clear cell carci-
noma, PT2N0M0, Fuhrman grade III. Bilateral adrenal mass was
found on US and CT examinaton (Fig. 1). The patent under -
went
18
FDG-PET/CT due to presumed diagnosis of adrenal me-
tastasis. Bilateral metachronous metastasis was found, whose
SUV
max
was 6.7 x 50 x 38 x 20 cm on the lef adrenal gland, and
another metastasis, whose SUV
max
was 5.5 40 x 29 x 20 on the
right adrenal gland (background hepatc actvity: 3.5) (Fig. 2).
Serum levels of ACTH and cortsol and urinary levels
of HMA and VMA were within normal limits. The masses
were considered to be hormonally inactve. It was decid-
ed to perform a CT-guided biopsy. Mineralocortcoid and
glucocortcoid replacement was made for possible iatrogen-
ic Addison’s disease.
DOI: 10.5301/uro.5000094
Bilateral metachronous adrenal metastases of operated
renal cell carcinoma
Hakan Ozturk
1
, Inanç Karapolat
2
, Ali Saklamaz
3
1
Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Sifa University, Izmir - Turkey
2
Department of Nuclear Medicine, School of Medicine, Sifa University, Izmir - Turkey
3
Department of Endocrinology, School of Medicine, Sifa University, Izmir - Turkey
ABSTRACT
Background: The adrenal glands are among the target metastatc organs due to the potental of systemic metas-
tasis from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The number of cases with bilateral metachronous metastases from RCC is
about twenty.
Patents and Methods: A sixty-one-year-old man presented for routne checks due to an operated lef renal
tumor (clear cell carcinoma, PT2N0M0, Fuhrman grade III). The patent underwent
18
FDG-PET/CT in order to re-
stage the disease upon observaton of bilateral adrenal masses on ultrasound and CT. A bilateral metachronous
metastasis was found, whose SUV
max
was 6.7 x 50 x 38 x 20 cm on the lef adrenal gland, and another metastasis
whose SUV
max
was 5.5 40 x 29 x 20 on the right adrenal gland.
Results: The patent underwent a CT-guided biopsy and diagnosis of adrenal metastasis was made by pathological
and immunohistochemical examinaton. The laparoscopic treatment was performed.
Conclusions: There is no standard approach for the treatment of these patents in the literature. But metasta-
sectomy is the most realistc part of the treatment. Making defnitve diagnosis with biopsy, following hormonal
examinaton and treatment with minimally invasive adrenal sparing surgical procedure containing frozen-secton
are strongly recommended. Cancer specifc survival signifcantly increases with metastasectomy.
Keywords: Renal cell carcinoma, Adrenal metastasis, Metachronous metastasis, Diagnosis
Accepted: October 2, 2014
Published online: November 22, 2014
Corresponding author:
Hakan Oztürk, MD. Asst. Prof.
Basmane Hospital of Sifa University
Fevzipasa Boulevard No: 172/2
35240, Basmane-Konak-Izmir, Turkey
drhakanozturk@yahoo.com.tr
Introducton
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) accounts for 2-3% of all can-
cers and its highest incidence is seen in developed countries
(1). Its annual incidence all around the world is 2%. It is 1.5
tmes more common in men and the highest incidence is in
the sixth and seventh decades (1). 5-year survival rate of the
patents with renal cancer is 68.4 all around the world (2).
Renal cell carcinoma can metastasize to almost every organ,
including the lungs (50% to 60%), liver (30% to 40%), bones
(30% to 40%), and brain (5%) (3). Approximately 25% of pa-
tents with RCC will already have multple distant metastases
at the tme of presentaton, including the lungs, lymph nodes,
liver or bones (3). Ipsilateral adrenal metastasis of the RCC is
seen in 1.1-10% of the cases with average of 3% but contra-
lateral adrenal metastasis is quite rare with a frequency of
about 0.7% (4, 5). Bilateral adrenal metastasis of the RCC is