Adrenal Tumors
Adrenal tumors – The adrenal glands rest immediately above each kidney in your back. They function as hormone glands that regulate salt and sugar balance, sexual hormones, and the fight-or-flight response.
Tumors of the adrenal gland are common, and can be found in between 1-5% of patients undergoing cross-sectional imaging studies (CT, MRI, etc). If you are found to have an adrenal tumor, then a standardized workup is recommended to rule out over production of any of these hormones as well as a cancerous growth. The vast majority of these tumors are found to be benign (non-cancerous) and non-functional (no overproduction of hormones).
Non-cancerous tumors that overproduce certain hormones can sometimes be managed with medication.
Cancerous tumors, most functional tumors, and some benign tumors may need to be removed – at Urology of Middle TN, this is often done with robotic surgery – a procedure known as Robotic Adrenalectomy
Adrenalectomy is a procedure performed under general anesthesia in the hospital. During the procedure, either the entire adrenal gland, or a portion of it, is removed. This is usually done in the setting of cancer or certain conditions in which the adrenal gland is overproducing hormones. The procedure is often performed using robotic surgery and patients are usually able to go home the following day.
