Abstract

Objective
Adrenal myelolipoma (AM) is a benign tumor composed of mature fat cells and hemopoietic elements. Most AMs are incidental findings on imaging and clinically asymptomatic. The purpose of this case report is to describe a rare case of AM and explore its clinical manifestations, imaging features, and treatment.

Methods
In this study, we report a case of a rapidly growing right AM in a patient with uncontrolled hemoglobin sickle cell disease. A 38-year-old male presented to our institution's endocrine surgery clinic for evaluation of an enlarging right adrenal mass. This mass was incidentally found during an abdominal ultrasound performed for transaminitis and thrombocytopenia. Patient was asymptomatic without any abdominal discomfort, back pain, nausea, or vomiting.

Results
Patient was lost to follow up until 2018. Follow-up computed tomography scan in 2018 showed the right adrenal mass measuring 12.3 cm in greatest dimension with significant macroscopic fat. Given the imaging features, AM was the presumed diagnosis. However, with a medical history of uncontrolled sickle cell disease, extra-medullary hematopoiesis and rapidly growing liposarcoma could not be ruled out. Surgical excision was performed due to size and significant tumor growth. Diagnosis was confirmed with histopathology and revealed myelolipoma.

Conclusion
Image characteristics can be helpful in diagnosis of AM; however, the appearance of this lesion on computed tomography can be similar to other adrenal gland pathologies such as liposarcoma and mass-forming extramedullary hematopoiesis. Percutaneous needle biopsy may be indicated if the diagnosis remains unclear.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2020

Notes/Citation Information

Published in AACE Clinical Case Reports, v. 6, issue 2.

Copyright © 2020 AACE

This is an Open Access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.4158/ACCR-2019-0402

Download

Share

COinS