ISOLATED CLINICAL SYNDROME OF PRIMARY ALDOSTERONISM IN A PATIENT WITHADRENOCORTICAL CARCINOMA - CASE-REPORT AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Primary carcinoma of the adrenal cortex is an extremely rare neoplasm, accounting for an estimated 0.05-0.2% of all malignancies. Hormonally functioning tumors occur in about 50% of patients with Gushing's synd rome (50%), virilism (30%) and feminization (12%) being the most commo n clinical manifestations. Isolated aldosteronism caused by adrenocort ical carcinoma is found in about 1-3% in patients with the clinical si gns of Conn's syndrome, The only preoperative feature suggesting malig nancy is a size of more than 5 cm in computed tomography. We report a rare case of a 29-year-old man with biochemically proven primary aldos teronism as the unique manifestation of a carcinoma of the right adren al cortex.