Adrenal Incidentaloma Differential Diagnoses

Updated: Jan 12, 2022
  • Author: George T Griffing, MD; Chief Editor: Romesh Khardori, MD, PhD, FACP  more...
  • Print
DDx

Diagnostic Considerations

The differential diagnosis of adrenal masses includes many primary, metastatic, benign, and malignant entities, most of which are not discussed at length here. Problems to be considered include the following:

  • Adjacent structures masquerading as adrenal incidentaloma (AIs) (eg, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, lymph nodes)

  • Adrenal cortical hyperplasia

  • Adrenal cortical neoplasms

  • Infiltrative diseases

  • Hemorrhage

  • Medullary neoplasms

  • Metastatic disease

  • Teratoma, atypical

In addition, see the image below for further differential diagnoses of AIs.

Differential diagnosis of adrenal mass Differential diagnosis of adrenal mass

Differential Diagnoses