Colon cancer adrenal metastasis: case report and review of the literature

Abstract

The authors report a case of alone right adrenal metastasis from colon carcinoma discovered incidentally by CT scan imaging 4 years after colon resection in a 74-year-old man. The presence of metastasis in the adrenal glands represents the second most frequent cause of "adrenal incidentaloma", following cortical-adrenal adenomas. The most common primary tumors responsible for adrenal metastasis are carcinoma of the lung, breast and kidney. Alone adrenal metastases due to colon or rectal carcinoma is very rare. Due to their rarity, at present there are not randomised studies supporting the effectiveness of surgery. Nevertheless, on the basis of international Literature and our experience of adrenalectomy could represent the current "gold-standard" therapeutic approach.