Differentiation between small benign and malignant adrenal masses with dynamic incremented CT

Adrenal adenomas: Characteristic postgadolinium capillary blush on dynamic MR imaging

“…These abundant capillary sinusoids of the adrenal cortex likely are responsible for the capillary blush of adrenal adenomas on the dynamic contrast-enhanced CT imaging (11). Uniform capillary blush is a reflection of the uniformity and density of the small vessels in the tumor, whereas homogeneous enhancement described in earlier studies is a reflection of the uniform size of the extracellular space throughout the tumor (22). Disruption of the normal arterial and capillary systems by malignancy may result in altered enhancement and absence of a capillary blush on immediate postgadolinium SGE images (3).…”

Adrenal nonhyperfunctioning adenoma and nonadenoma: CT attenuation value as discriminative index

“…It is especially important to differentiate nonhyperfunctioning adenoma from metastasis in the presence of primary extraadrenal malignancy. The size, homogeneity, contrast enhancement, and CT attenuation value as discriminatory factors have been evaluated [1][2][3][4]. We retrospectively studied the CT findings, especially CT attenuation values, of adrenal nonhyperfunctioning adenomas and nonadenomas.…”

MR evaluation of adrenal masses at 1.5 T

“…We retrospectively studied the value of MR imaging at 1.5 T to distinguish between nonadenomatous (n = 17) and adenomatous (n = 15) adrenal masses on the basis of (1) signal-intensity ratios on TI-and T2-weighted spin-echo images, [2,3], CT-directed biopsy or surgical excision remains the only consistent means of establishing a definitive diagnosis.…”