Adrenocortical Oncocytoma — A Rare Tumor of Undefined Malignant Potential: Report of a Case

Abstract

Adrenocortical oncocytomas are exceptionally rare. To our knowledge, only 23 cases have been reported in the world literature, most of which were benign and nonfunctioning. We report a case of adrenocortical oncocytoma diagnosed by pathological examination of an extirpated right adrenal mass in a young woman. We discuss this case and review the literature on this unusual entity.

Retroperitoneal oncocytoma: case report and review of the imaging features

“…Of the adrenal tumours the so-called adrenal ''incidentalomas'' have been estimated to occur in as many as 3-5% of patients undergoing abdominal crosssectional imaging for unrelated clinical indications [5,6]. The overwhelming majority of such lesions are benign adrenal adenomas.…”

Imaging appearance of bulk fat within an oncocytic adrenocortical neoplasm, a rare and potentially malignant tumour

“…Oncocytic adrenocortical neoplasm is an adrenal tumour that consists entirely or predominantly of oncocytes, large polygonal epithelial cells filled with eosinophilic granules that correspond with densely packed mitochondria on electron microscopy [4][5][6][7][8][9]. The lesion is exceedingly rare with fewer than 80 cases having been reported since the entity was first described in 1986 [10].…”

“…The lesion most commonly demonstrates a benign histological appearance and biological behaviour. In such cases, the lesion has been designated by some authors as an adrenocortical oncocytoma [4,5,9,11], analogous to the oncocytoma that is recognised in the kidney and salivary, thyroid and parathyroid glands [7]. However, oncocytic adrenocortical neoplasms have also presented in some cases as carcinomas with a malignant clinical course; for example, demonstrating invasion of the inferior vena cava [8,[12][13][14], local recurrence following resection [15,16] and bone, liver and lung metastases [15], with death as a reported outcome [17].…”

“…Indeed, some reported cases in the literature have demonstrated a more aggressive clinical course than would be predicted using this classification system [8,12,13,17]. Until these lesions are better understood, long-term follow-up of oncocytic adrenocortical neoplasms is suggested [4,5].…”

Adrenocortical oncocytoma

“…По используемой в настоящее время классификации выделяют три категории онкоцитом: доброкачественную, с неопределенным злокачественным потенциалом и он-коцитарную карциному [8][9][10].…”