Adrenal Tumors | Symptoms & Causes
What are the symptoms of adrenal tumors?
The symptoms of adrenal tumors may vary from child to child and depend on where the tumor is located and what kind it is. Symptoms might mimic other, more common ailments. Some common symptoms may include:
- abdominal pain, fullness, or the presence of an abdominal lump
- weight changes
- early-onset pubertal changes
- high blood pressure
Because many of these symptoms can also point to other conditions, it’s important to have your child evaluated by a qualified medical professional right away.
What causes adrenal tumors in children?
It is important to understand that tumors often emerge with no known cause. Many may result from the combined effects of genetic and environmental factors.
Some cancers are caused by inherited conditions. Disorders associated with pheochromocytomas include neurofibromatosis, von Hippel-Lindau disease, multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndromes, tuberous sclerosis, Sturge-Weber syndrome, and ataxia-telangiectasia.
Adrenocortical carcinomas (ACCs) are often linked to genetic conditions, most often Li-Fraumeni syndrome. About 50-to-80 percent of pediatric ACC patients have this syndrome. Other related conditions include MEN1, Lynch syndrome, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, and hemihypertrophy.
Adrenal Tumors | Diagnosis & Treatments
How are adrenal tumors diagnosed?
The first step in treating your child is forming an accurate and complete diagnosis. Your child’s physician may order a number of different tests including:
- physical exam
- blood and urine tests.
- biopsy
- magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- computerized tomography scan (CT/CAT scan)
- molecular testing
What are the treatment options for adrenal tumors?
Treatment for your child's adrenal tumor will depend on the type of tumor your child has and whether it is malignant. Your child's doctor may recommend surgery, radiation or chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy
A drug treatment that aims to destroy or shrink cancer cells, may be given before or after surgery. Sometimes before removing a pheochromocytoma, your child’s physician may prescribe medicine to control high blood pressure medication to treat excessive hormone production in functioning tumors.