Adrenal Myelolipoma

Definition

Adrenal myelolipoma is a benign tumor of the adrenal cortex, composed of mature adipose tissue and hematopoietic elements in various proportions.

Clinical Features

Most patients are asymptomatic and the lesion is discovered incidentally during radiographic examination for other reasons. When symptoms are reported, they relate to mass effect and include abdominal discomfort, hematuria, hypertension, or, rarely, retroperitoneal hemorrhage. The majority of these tumors are nonfunctional.

• Incidence

  Myelolipoma is the second most common adrenal cortical tumor after adrenal adenoma. It accounts for 2.6% of all primary adrenal neoplasms (Lack 2007).

• Age

  Most tumors are discovered during the fifth to seventh decades of life, with a mean age at diagnosis of 50 years.

• Sex

  There is a roughly equal gender distribution.

• Site

  Adrenal myelolipomas are usually unilateral and equally distributed on either side. While most of these lesions occur in the adrenal gland, extra-adrenal...