Exploration and management of adrenal incidentalomas. French Society of Endocrinology Consensus

• Published in: Annales d'endocrinologie 2008-12, Vol.69 (6), p.487-500
• Main Authors: TABARIN, A, BARDET, S, VALLI, N, ROHMER, V, BERTHERAT, J, DUPAS, B, CHABRE, O, HAMOIR, E, LAURENT, F, TENENBAUM, F, CAZALDA, M, LEFEBVRE, H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms - pathology; Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms - therapy; Adrenal Gland Neoplasms - diagnosis; Adrenal Gland Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Adrenal Gland Neoplasms - epidemiology; Adrenal Gland Neoplasms - metabolism; Adrenal Gland Neoplasms - pathology; Adrenal Gland Neoplasms - surgery; Adrenal Gland Neoplasms - therapy; Adrenal Glands - pathology; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biopsy; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Positron-Emission Tomography; Vertebrates: endocrinology
• ISSN: 0003-4266
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ando.2008.09.003

The French Society of Endocrinology convened a multidisciplinary panel of endocrinologists, radiologists, nuclear physicians and surgeons to address the appropriate evaluation and treatment of adrenal incidentalomas. The panel conducted a systematic review of medical literature on the following issues: epidemiology, natural history, radiological and scintigraphic evaluation, endocrine assessment, surgical management and appropriate follow-up. The following text reports the recommendations of experts on behalf of the French Society of Endocrinology. The authors emphasize the paucity of published scientific data that hampers evidence-based medicine recommendations. The crucial points of the French consensus are: the usefulness of CT-scanning evaluation of adrenal incidentalomas, the systematic screening for pheochromocytoma, the usefulness of the 1mg overnight dexamethasone test to screen for latent hypercortisolism, the difficulty to interpret mild biological abnormalities of the HPA axis, the consensus to remove surgically most of tumours greater than 4cm, the necessity to follow clinically glucorticoid tissular targets in the follow-up of non operated benign adrenocortical incidentalomas.