[A CASE OF SOLITARY ADRENAL TUMOR METASTASIZED FROM RECTAL CANCER]

Abstract

Solitary adrenal metastasis of rectal cancer is comparatively rare condition and it is difficult to be diagnosed because it doesn't have any characteristic symptoms. We report a case of this type of adrenal tumor that could be figured out by tumor markers and the analysis of CT scan image. A 67-year-old man visited our department with the right adrenal tumor. He has a past medical history of rectal cancer and a low anterior resection was performed in 2011. After the surgery, he received adjuvant chemotherapy for 6 months. There has been no finding of recurrence or metastasis after chemotherapy. However, his follow-up abdominal CT in 2013 showed the right adrenal tumor which was 23 mm in diameter. Serum CEA level has also increased to 4.1 ng/ml, but there was no abnormal finding with hormonal study. The tumor size and CEA level gradually increased up to 46 mm in size and 10.4 ng/ml during 6 months. Enhanced CT also showed 39% at rate of absolute percentage wash out, which was not the finding of typical functional adrenal tumor. Based on these findings, we diagnosed that the origin of this adrenal tumor should be solitary metastasis of the rectal cancer. For the treatment of surgical procedure, we performed laparoscopic right adrenalectomy. The pathological finding showed adenocarcinoma, the origin of which was the previous rectal cancer. Six months have passed since the surgery, but CEA level still has remained normal range and neither finding of recurrence nor metastasis has been found.