The most common primary tumor of the adrenal
gland is adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). ACC is a
highly rare malignancy, with an incidence of 0.7-2
per million population.
1
Although a diagnosis can be
made at any age, ACC more frequently affects
women, and its incidence peaks in the fourth to fifth
decades of life.
2
ACCs are generally sporadic; how-
ever, they are occasionally observed as a component
of hereditary syndromes like Li-Fraumeni or Beck-
with-Wiedemann syndrome.
3
Approximately 60% of
patients present with symptoms owing to adrenal hor-
mone secretion, where cortisol excess (Cushing syn-
drome) is the leading manifestation followed by
secretion of sex hormones (primarily androgen).
1,4
Non-functional ACCs cause symptoms owing to
tumor burden, particularly abdominal pain and
weight loss. Most ACC cases are diagnosed at an ad-
vanced stage, and 5-year survival remains below
50%.
5
Primary treatment of localized ACC is the tumor
resection with or without removal of regional lymph
nodes. Adjuvant therapy with an oral adrenolytic
agent, mitotane, for a minimum of 2 years is recom-
mended in patients with no macroscopic residual dis-
ease if a high risk of recurrence (large tumor size,
Ki67>10% or R1 resection) persists.
1
Radiotherapy
J Oncol Sci. 2021;7(3):133-8
133 133 133
Clinicopathological Features, Treatment Outcomes, and
Prognostic Factors in Adrenocortical Carcinoma:
A Single-Center Experience
Nazım Can DEMİRCAN
a
, Tuğba AKIN TELLİ
a
, Tuğba BAŞOĞLU
a
, Rukiye ARIKAN
a
,
Alper YAŞAR
a
, Abdussamet ÇELEBİ
a
, Özkan ALAN
a,b
, Selver IŞIK
a
, Özlem ERCELEP
a
,
Faysal DANE
a
, Perran Fulden YUMUK
a
a
Division of Medical Oncology, Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, TURKEY
b
Clinic of Medical Oncology, Tekirdağ State Hospital, Tekirdağ, TURKEY
ABSTRACT Objective: The study aimed to analyze clinicopathological features, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors of patients
with adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). Material and Methods: The records of 25 patients with confirmed ACC were retrospectively exam-
ined who were followed up in our clinic. The clinical and pathological data were recorded. The prognosis was estimated using the Kaplan-
Meier method, and prognostic variables were determined using Cox regression models. Results: The study included 21 patients, 19 (90.5%)
of whom initially had Stage III or IV disease, and 18 (85.7%) had surgery for the primary tumor. In the subgroup with non-metastatic disease
and primary tumor resection, patients who received adjuvant mitotane had significantly longer median disease-free survival than patients who
had not (22.7 vs. 2.5 months, p=0.02). Five-year overall survival (OS) was 36%. De novo metastatic disease, primary tumor resection, and
tumor functional status were the factors affecting OS significantly or having a trend in univariate analysis. Primary tumor resection was the
only independent prognostic factor for OS after adjusting for other factors (hazard ratio=0.06, p=0.04). Conclusion: In our study population,
adjuvant mitotane conferred a significant improvement in disease-free survival of patients with ACC who were operated on for localized dis-
ease. Primary tumor resection persisted in being a significant prognostic factor for OS.
Keywords: Adrenocortical carcinoma; prognosis; survival
DOI: 10.37047/jos.2021-84514
Correspondence: Nazım Can DEMİRCAN
Division of Medical Oncology, Marmara University Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul, TURKEY
E-mail: ncdemircan@gmail.com
Peer review under responsibility of Journal of Oncological Sciences.
Received: 18 May 2021 Accepted: 28 Oct 2021 Available online: 12 Nov 2021
2452-3364 / Copyright © 2021 by Turkish Society of Medical Oncology. This is an open
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Internal Medicine
Journal of Oncological Sciences
ORIGINAL RESEARCH