Multi-Year Observation of Lung Cancer Metastases to the Adrenal Glands

The purpose of our study was to show if there is any correlation between the location of the primary cancer site in the lungs and the appearance of metastases in the adrenal gland. 2,340 patients with confirmed lung cancer were analyzed. The study group of 2,340 patients was divided into two subgroups: 1,998 patients were diagnosed with lung cancer located only in one lung, and 342 with disseminated lung cancer. Among the group of 1,998 patients, in 218 cases, pathological lesions in the adrenal glands were detected using computer tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR). In 161 out of 218 cases, suprarenal lesions were detected by ultrasound (US). All patients with suprarenal lesions detected by US (161 cases in total ) underwent US-guided biopsy. Among these patients, metastases to the adrenal glands were histopathologically confirmed in 91 cases. In 70 cases, the histopathological reporting confirmed benign lesions. Altogether there were 64 adrenal metastases originated from the left lung cancer and 32 metastases from the right lung cancer. In 342 patients with disseminated cancer, four of them had confirmed metastases in both adrenal glands; seven patients had a metastatic lesion in the left and three in the right adrenal gland. Among this group, metastases to other organs such as the liver, bones, central nervous system and mediastinal lymph nodes were also detected. The authors came to the conclusion that the higher occurrence rate of adrenal metastases from the left lung carcinoma as compared to the right lung carcinoma is associated with higher blood flow in the left lung.