Adrenal adenoma refers to the non-cancerous (benign) tumor that develops in the adrenal cortex, the outer layer of the adrenal gland. These adrenal glands are present on the top of both the kidneys. There can be multiple tumors in the adrenal cortex, which are collectively called as adrenal adenomas.
The main function of the adrenal cortex is generally to generate hormones that are a part of the steroid collection. An adrenal adenoma is said to be ‘functioning’ when it generates the hormones. Although this means that the adenomas are in a good state, in fact, they often end up generating too much quantity of steroid hormones. On the other hand, if an adrenal adenoma is unable to generate the steroid hormones, it is said to be ‘non-functioning’.
The presence of adrenal adenomas is detected just by chance during a scan of the [...]
