Isolated clinical syndrome of primary aldosteronism in a patient with adrenocortical carcinoma. Case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Primary carcinoma of the adrenal cortex is an extremely rare neoplasm, accounting for an estimated 0.05-0.2% of all malignancies. Hormonally functioning tumors occur in about 50% of patients with Cushing's syndrome (50%), virilism (30%) and feminization (12%) being the most common clinical manifestations. Isolated aldosteronism caused by adrenocortical carcinoma is found in about 1-3% in patients with the clinical signs of Conn's syndrome. The only preoperative feature suggesting malignancy is a size of more than 5 cm in computed tomography. We report a rare case of a 29-year-old man with biochemically proven primary aldosteronism as the unique manifestation of a carcinoma of the right adrenal cortex.