CLINICAL STUDY Adrenocortical function in patients with macrometastases of the adrenal gland

Objective: Metastases of the adrenal gland are a frequent ®nding in patients with malignant tumors like bronchogenic carcinoma or breast cancer. Only limited and con¯icting data on adrenocortical function in these patients are available. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: We investigated the impact of adrenal macrometastases on adrenocortical function in a series of 28 tumor patients using the ACTH1±24 stimulation test and dexamethasone suppression test. Seven normal controls (Con), eleven patients without adrenal metastases (No Met), eight patients with unilateral (Uni Met) and nine patients with bilateral adrenal metastases (Bil Met) were investigated. Results: The prevalence of adrenal insuf®ciency was low in our study population, with only two of nine patients with bilateral metastases having subclinical adrenocortical insuf®ciency. In the remaining patients with uni- or bilateral metastases, baseline and stimulated cortisol concentrations were higher than in controls and cancer patients without metastases (baseline cortisol (in nmol/l): Con: 307633.