Non-Tumor Cystic Lesions of the Adrenal Gland

Adrenal cystic lesions are uncommon but due to the improved radiologic imaging techniques their appearance seems to increase.

Material and Methods: We analyzed the clinical and radiological findings of 10 patients with adrenal cysts and the pathological features of the operative material. Standard dissection procedure and paraffin embedded tissue sections were made, stained by HE and immunohistochemically with CD34, CD 31, Factor 8, Podoplanin, CKWS and AE1/AE3

Results: The mean age of the patients was 40.6 years; female to male ratio was 2.3:1. All the cysts were diagnosed as cystic lesions radiologically except one. The most present clinical symptom was abdominal pain.

The diameter of the cysts measured from 2 to 7 cm. Four of the cysts were diagnosed as pseudocysts and six as endothelial. Six cysts were lined by CD34⁺ and CD31⁺ cells, four were lined by Factor 8⁺ and podoplanin⁺ cells and four had no lining.

Conclusion: Endothelial cysts were more common cysts in our study and the immunohistochemical results suggested common vascular origin to all endothelial cysts and supported additional separation of angiomatous and lymphangiomathous adrenal vascular cysts.