Definitive characterisation of adrenal lesions

doi:10.1136/bmj.a3092

Published 19 January 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.a3092
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:a3092

Practice

Rational Imaging

Definitive characterisation of adrenal lesions

J C Miller, medical writer, M A Blake, radiologist, G W L Boland, radiologist

¹ Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA

Correspondence to: G W L Boland gboland@partners.org

This article explores the radiological investigations for characterisingadrenal lesions, focusing on adrenal protocol computed tomography,positron emission tomography, chemical shift magnetic resonanceimaging, and nuclear scintigraphy

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Incidental adrenal lesions are often detectedby computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Thediagnosis is highly dependent on whether the individual hasa known history of cancer, with most lesions proving benignin patients without known cancer

Characterisation of the adrenallesion is essential in patients with a history of malignancyso that the disease can be staged and treatment decided

Mostlesions can be characterised using adrenal protocol CT, althougha few indeterminate lesions may require MRI, nuclear imaging,and/or percutaneous biopsy

Functional adenomas and pheochromocytomasare best detected by laboratory tests

A woman in her 60s presented with a three week history of aproductive cough and haemoptysis. A chest x ray film showeda 2.9 cm right upper lobe lung mass. Bronchoscopy and biopsyfound non-small cell lung cancer. Staging, contrast enhancedcomputed tomography (CT) of the chest confirmed the upper lobelung mass . . . [Full text of this article]

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