The prevalence of incidentally detected adrenal enlargement on CT

Abstract

Aim: To assess the prevalence and the department's detection rate of adrenocortical hyperplasia.

Materials and methods: All computed tomography (CT) examinations of the adrenal glands between February and April 2011 were reviewed. The study excluded patients with known underlying cancer, abdominal trauma, or endocrine disease. The adrenal gland was deemed enlarged if its body was greater than 10 mm diameter, or a limb greater than 5 mm.

Results: There were a total of 564 eligible CT studies during this period. A total of 64 cases of incidental adrenal enlargement were found giving a prevalence of 11.3%. Only nine cases were reported in the contemporaneous CT report.

Conclusion: The results of the present study show that incidental adrenal enlargement has a significant prevalence. It is often dismissed during reporting, and awareness needs to be raised in the radiological community. Equally, the clinical and biochemical significance needs to be assessed with endocrine correlation.