Every year round about 500 cases of adrenal cortical cancers in the United States are detected. The most common category of patients is between the ages of 30 & 50. Children who are below 5 years of age develop adrenal cortical cancers at a higher rate than the rest of the cancer population.
It has been observed that men are more likely to develop non-functioning adrenal carcinomas and females are more likely to be diagnosed with functioning adrenal carcinomas. The exact cause of adrenal cortical cancers is not yet known.
It has been reported that it is not associated with smoking and does not run in families therefore it’s not inherited. However some genetic mutations have been associated with development of adrenal cortical cancers and research is ongoing to identify the causes of these types of cancers.
Prevention of adrenal cancer is difficult for the obvious reason that the causes are not known. There are no known and claimed steps and prevention, which we can say with confidence that will reduce the risks of Adrenal cancer.
Functioning adrenal cortical cancer is mostly diagnosed because of the symptoms caused by the steroids.
Generally patients suffering from Cushing’s syndrome are given a test called a 24-hour urinary free cortical test. In some cases additional dose of steroid is give to the patients and during this phase, the patients undergo a dexamethasone suppression test where patients are given a high dose of the steroid dexamethasone.
Patients with adrenal tumors cortisol levels remain high even after a patient receives a high dose of dexamethasone. And this is a major symptom that the person undergoing the test for something else suffers from adrenal cancer.
Other ways to diagnose adrenal cancer are, CT Scan, Ultra Sound, MRI, Positron Emission Tomography scans etc. The final diagnoses is taking a part of tumor and observing under microscope before finally confirming it as Adrenal Cancer.
Surgical removal of tumor, Radiation and chemotherapy are the ways to treat adrenal cancer. Adrenal cancer can be completely cured by removal of tumor but it’s an aggressive cancer and even after complete removal it can come back.
After treatment for functional adrenal tumors, blood is drawn from patient’s body to measure hormone levels in the body.
If the hormone levels have are returning to normal after therapy, it’s a good sign. Patient will undergo check ups every 3 to 6 months for several years.
