Study of Adrenalectomy Versus Observation for Subclinical Hypercortisolism

Background:

- Adrenal tumors are a common kind of tumor. Some of these secrete extra cortisol into the body, which can lead to diabetes, obesity, and other diseases. Some people with extra cortisol will show symptoms like bruising and muscle weakness. Others will show no signs. This is called subclinical hypercortisolism. Some of these adrenal tumors become malignant. Researchers want to know the best way to treat people with subclinical hypercortisolism. They want to know if removing the tumor by surgery reduces the long-term effects of the disease.

Objectives:

- To see if removing an adrenal tumor by surgery improves blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, or cholesterol, and cancer detection.

Eligibility:

- Adults 18 and older with an adrenal tumor and high cortisol levels.

Design:

* Participants will be screened with medical history, blood tests, and a computed tomography (CT) scan.
* Participants will have a baseline visit. They will have blood and urine tests and 7 scans. For most scans, a substance is injected through a tube in the arm. Participants will lie still on a table in a machine that takes images.
* Participants will have surgery to remove their tumor. Some will have surgery right away. Some will have surgery 6 months later, after 2 follow-up appointments.
* Participants will have 4 follow-up visits in the first year after surgery. They will have 2 visits the second year, then yearly visits for 3 years. At each follow-up visit, they will have scans and blood tests.

Background:

* Adrenal incidentalomas are common and found in approximately 4-7% of the population.
* About 0.6 to 25% of patients with an adrenal incidentaloma are found to have subclinical hypercortisolism: 2.3% develop subclinical hypercortisolism during follow up and 0.6% develop clinical hypercortisolism during follow up.
* Subclinical hypercortisolism is defined as biochemical excess of cortisol without signs and symptoms of overt hypercortisolism but may be associated with metabolic complications or disease progression and malignancy.
* Overt signs and symptoms of hypercortisolism include facial plethora, easy bruising, violaceous striae, and proximal muscle weakness.
* Several studies suggest that subclinical hypercortisolism may lead to long term consequences such as diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, and osteoporosis.
* Thus, patients with subclinical hypercortisolism may benefit from operative intervention to halt or reverse metabolic complications associated with the disease and the risk of malignant progression.
* The optimal management of patients with subclinical hypercortisolism and adrenal incidentalomas is controversial and no large randomized trial has been conducted.
* We hypothesize that operative treatment would reduce the risk of long term complications of subclinical hypercortisolism and malignant progression, and propose a prospective randomized trial comparing nonoperative and operative management of subclinical hypercortisolism in patients with an adrenal neoplasm.

Objectives:

Primary Endpoints:

-To determine whether unilateral adrenalectomy in patients diagnosed with subclinical hypercortisolism and adrenal neoplasm results in normalization and/or improvement of hypertension as assessed by reduction in pharmacotherapy and/or normalization of blood pressure (systolic pressure \<=140 and diastolic pressure \<=90), diabetes as assessed by reduction or elimination of pharmacotherapy and/or improvement in A1C to \<6.5%, osteoporosis by increase in bone formation markers indicative of increased bone formation, hypercholesterolemia as assessed by a reduction or elimination of pharmacotherapy and/or reduction in low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels to risk-stratified goal levels as defined by Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III), and/or overweight or obesity as assessed by a 10 percent reduction in weight at 6 months.

Eligibility:

* An individual with an adrenal neoplasm less than 5 cm in size with biochemically confirmed evidence of hypercortisolism (2 out of 3: dexamethasone suppression test (DST) \>3 mcgl/dL, elevated urine free cortisol, and/or morning adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) \<2.2 pmol/l) without overt clinical signs and symptoms.
* Age greater than or equal to 18 years.
* Adults must be able to understand and sign the informed consent document.
* Patients must have laboratory and physical examination parameters within acceptable limits based on standard clinical practice.

Design:

* Prospective randomized study comparing adrenalectomy versus observation.
* Patients assigned to the operative arm will undergo adrenalectomy and then followed postoperatively for normalization and/or improvement of metabolic complications associated with hypercortisolism and histologic examination of the resected tumor.
* Patients assigned to the non-operative arm will be monitored for possible complications associated with hypercortisolism for six months, at which point they will cross-over to the operative intervention arm.
* Patients with bilateral adrenal neoplasms will have the larger adrenal neoplasm used as the primary lesion responsible for subclinical hypercortisolism.
* Demographic, clinical, laboratory and pathologic data will be collected for each patient participant. Data will be securely stored in a computerized database.
* Patients will have biochemical testing to determine if their adrenal neoplasm is functioning or nonfunctioning.
* Projected accrual will be 15 to 20 patients per year for a total of 5 years. Thus, we anticipate accruing 62 patients on this protocol.

Eligibility Criteria:
* INCLUSION CRITERIA:
* An individual with an adrenal neoplasm less than 5 cm in size with biochemically confirmed evidence of hypercortisolism (2 out of 3: dexamethasone suppression test (DST) \>3 mcgl/dL, elevated urine free cortisol, and/or morning adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) \<2.2 pmol/l) without overt clinical signs and symptoms.
* Age greater than or equal to 18 years.
* Adults must be able to understand and sign the informed consent document.
* Patients must have laboratory and physical examination parameters within acceptable limits by standard of practice.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

* Biochemically and/or radiologically confirmed pheochromocytoma, hyperaldosteronism, or adrenocortical carcinoma.
* Nonfunctioning adrenal neoplasm.
* Pre-existing cancers and/or metastatic disease to the adrenal glands.
* Pregnancy and/or lactation.
* Lack of metabolic complications.
* Imaging features worrisome for malignancy (heterogeneous tumor, presence of calcifications, necrosis, \>10 Hounsfield units on an unenhanced computed tomography (CT) scan, and delayed washout of contrast).