Adrenal cancer is a rare cancer that begins in the small, triangular glands (adrenal glands) located on top of your kidneys. Adrenal glands produce hormones that give instructions to virtually every organ and tissue in your body.
Adrenal cancer, also called adrenocortical cancer, can occur at any age. But it's most likely to affect children younger than 5 and adults in their 40s and 50s.
In about half of people with adrenal cancer, symptoms are caused by the hormones made by the tumor. In the other half, symptoms occur because the tumor has grown so large that it presses on nearby organs. This may cause pain near the tumor, a feeling of fullness in the abdomen, or trouble eating because of a feeling of filling up easily.
A risk factor is anything that increases your chance of getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have different risk factors. Some risk factors, like smoking, can be changed. Others, like your age or family history, can’t be changed.
But having a risk factor, or even several risk factors, does not mean that you will get the disease. And some people who get the disease may have few or no known risk factors. Scientists have found few risk factors that make a person more likely to develop adrenal cancer.
Adrenal cancer is often aggressive. When found early, there is a chance for cure. But if the cancer has spread to areas beyond the adrenal gland, cure becomes less likely. Treatment can be used to delay progression or recurrence.
Treatment options include:
Not all growths that form in the adrenal glands are cancer. Noncancerous (benign) adrenal tumors, such as adenoma or pheochromocytoma, also can develop in the adrenal glands.
