[Pathology of adrenal incidentaloma]

Abstract

Adrenal incidentaloma or incidentally detected adrenal mass has recently increased in number because of the recent advancement of radiological diagnostic means. The clinical management and histopathological diagnosis of the resected adrenal mass has therefore become increasingly important. When surgical pathologists evaluate a resected adrenal mass of the patients with adrenal incidentaloma, it is very important to evaluate the following pathological aspects; 1. the mass is malignant or not? and 2. the mass is of adrenocortical origin or not. We will describe these aspects regarding the pathology of adrenal incidentaloma in this review with emphasis on the three aspects above.