Multiple visceral resection for giant non-secretory adrenocortical carcinoma in an elderly patient: a case report

Abstract

Adrenocortical carcinomas are rare tumors in adults. They can be hormonally active and detected by a hormonal excess, or be non-secretory tumors. In the latter case, they become symptomatic after a long period of growth, usually after they have already invaded the surrounding tissues. In these cases, multiple visceral resections are sometimes required in order to obtain a complete R0 resection. We present the case of a 65-year-old patient who was addressed to our service for a giant abdominal tumor with compression phenomena in whom we performed a complete resection en bloc with left nephrectomy and adrenalectomy, distal pancreatectomy, splenectomy, left colectomy and para-aortic lymph node dissection. The early postoperative course was uneventful, the patient was discharged eight days after surgery. The histopathological findings revealed an adrenocortical carcinoma with no lymph node metastases.

Keywords: Retroperitoneal giant tumor; adrenocortical carcinoma; multi-visceral resection; non-secretory tumor.