Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2016 Oct 26:2016:bcr2016217417.
doi: 10.1136/bcr-2016-217417.

Bilateral primary adrenal lymphoma with adrenal insufficiency

Affiliations
Case Reports

Bilateral primary adrenal lymphoma with adrenal insufficiency

Aishah Ekhzaimy et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Abstract

Primary adrenal lymphoma is an extremely rare condition. We describe a case of bilateral adrenal lymphoma in a man aged 55 years who was admitted to our hospital. He had a 3-month history of left flank pain, nausea and vomiting with weight loss. A CT scan at a private hospital revealed bilateral large adrenal masses; the patient was referred to our centre based on these findings. He was evaluated for pheochromocytoma by an endocrinology team; however, all findings were negative. In addition, a cosyntropin stimulation test indicated adrenal insufficiency. A Trucut biopsy of the adrenal gland revealed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the adrenal glands, and the patient responded extremely well to chemotherapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CT scans of the abdomen. (A) Large, bilateral, heterogeneously enhanced suprarenal masses. The right and left masses measured 6×7×6 and 10.6×6.3×8.7 cm3, respectively, with no observed calcification. (B) A postchemotherapy CT scan revealed significant interval regression in the sizes of the previously observed bilateral adrenal masses, with restoration of their configurations.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A and B) MRI scan: bilateral large well-defined heterogeneous mass lesion seen at the region of both adrenal glands (red arrows) with rather lobulated outline, measuring about 7.5×5.5 cm2, in the right side and about 8.5×7 cm2, in the left side. The lesion displayed intermediate to low signal intensity on T1WI images and high signal on T2WI images with fluid restriction on diffusion-weighted images (no intravenous contrast was given).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Gallium-67 whole-body scans. (A and B) Positive uptake in both adrenal glands. (C and D) A postchemotherapy gallium-67 whole-body scan was negative.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Rashidi A, Fisher SI. Primary adrenal lymphoma: a systematic review. Ann Hematol 2013;92:1583–93. 10.1007/s00277-013-1812-3 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ichikawa S, Fukuhara N, Inoue A et al. . Clinicopathological analysis of primary adrenal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: effectiveness of rituximab-containing chemotherapy including central nervous system prophylaxis. Exp Hematol Oncol 2013;2:19 10.1186/2162-3619-2-19 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Erçolak V, Kara O, Günaldı M et al. . Bilateral primary adrenal non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Turk J Haematol 2014;31:205–6. 10.4274/tjh.2013.0195 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Khurana A, Kaur P, Chauhan AK. Primary non Hodgkin's lymphoma of left adrenal gland—a rare presentation. J Clin Diagn Res 2015;9:XD01–3. 10.7860/JCDR/2015/8079.5745 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tanpitukpongse TP, Kamalian S, Punsoni M et al. . Radiology–pathology conference: primary adrenal lymphoma. Clin Imaging 2012;36:156–9. 10.1016/j.clinimag.2011.08.022 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms