Adrenocortical Carcinoma

Adrenocortical carcinoma was a rare but the most common type of cancerous adrenal gland tumor, with a poor prognosis, affecting approximately 4 to 12 per 1 million people. It could occur at any age, with women being diagnosed slightly more often than men. The cause was often unknown, though certain hereditary conditions increased risk. Tumors could be functional, producing hormones and causing various symptoms, or nonfunctional, causing symptoms due to size and pressure on nearby organs. Diagnosis involved physical exams, blood and urine tests, and imaging. Treatment depended on cancer stage, primarily involving surgery, with chemotherapy and targeted therapy as options. Radiation therapy was less common due to the difficulty in killing cancer cells with x-rays. Adrenal incidentalomas, often nonfunctional adrenocortical adenomas, were asymptomatic masses found incidentally during imaging for other conditions.