Abstract
Introduction: Adrenal cavernous hemangiomas are rare benign tumors that arise from vascular endothelium and are often discovered incidentally on abdominal imaging. The majority are nonfunctioning; however, we present a case of adrenal Cushing’s syndrome in a patient with a cavernous adrenal hemangioma.
Case: A 72-year-old woman was referred for an incidental right adrenal mass. On questioning, she endorsed abdominal pain, sixty-pound unintentional weight gain over five years, truncal obesity, and easy bruising. Past medical history was relevant for hypertension. Her surgical history was extremely complicated, having had a perforated peptic ulcer, open cholecystectomy complicated by injury to the right ureter, incisional hernia repair, appendectomy, and hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy.
She was first noted to have a right adrenal mass on a CT done eight years ago, measuring 3.8 x 3.2 cm. A repeat CT abdomen and pelvis now showed this mass to be 6.5 x 6.3 x 8.1 cm with unenhanced Hounsfield units of 29.6. Radiographically, this was a heterogeneous, solid, and cystic appearing mass with peripheral brisk arterial enhancement areas, which appeared to fill in on delayed imaging. The enhancement pattern of the lesion was consistent with an adrenal cavernous hemangioma. An MRI of the abdomen also demonstrated similar peripheral nodular enhancement favoring an adrenal cavernous hemangioma.
Functional testing for the adrenal mass was undertaken. Morning cortisol was 23.4 mcg/dl with ACTH low at 5.3 pg/ml, and DHEA-S 3 mcg/dl. She failed to suppress with overnight 1 mg dexamethasone with AM cortisol of 3.6 mcg/dl. Midnight salivary cortisol levels were high at 0.237 mcg/dl and 0.419 mcg/dl while a 24-hour urine free cortisol was normal at 15.2 mcg/d. She tested negative for pheochromocytoma and primary aldosteronism.
The patient was deemed a poor surgical candidate due to her history of multiple prior abdominal surgeries and a BMI of 46. Therefore, she underwent an IR angioembolization of the right adrenal mass instead. On follow-up CT, there was no significant change in the size of the lesion; however the degree of rim enhancement was slightly decreased. Post procedurally, her a.m. cortisol remained high-normal at 18.3 mcg/dL.. She is currently enrolled in a study for medical treatment of Cushing’s syndrome.
Discussion: Adrenal cavernous hemangiomas usually present incidentally in the 6th-7th decade of life with a female predominance. These lesions are often asymptomatic; however, abdominal pain is the most common presenting symptom. The majority of adrenal cavernous hemangiomas are hormonally quiescent and mineralocorticoid excess and/or subclinical Cushing’s syndrome is exceedingly rare. Our patient is unique in her presentation of adrenal Cushing’s with this lesion and the novel use of angioembolization to decrease the size of this vascular tumor.
Cavernous hemangioma of the lung