New member. Question for adrenal gland mets

sharonf · 07-11-2006, 11:06 AM

Hi all,

I am new to this site and am a caregiver for my mother who is 80 years old with metastatic breast cancer.

Brief history about her bc:

Dx in 8/2003, Stage IIA, ER-/PR-, her2neu+++, lumpectomy, radiation only

Recurrence to lymph nodes above collarbone 10/2004

Started Navelbine+Herceptin 1/2005. (The very 1st weekly infusion took care of the lymph nodes, NED since then)

Switched to weekly Taxotere+Herceptin after 2nd infusion due to severe side effects from Navelbine

On Herceptin only since 6/2005

Then the upsetting news came - latest Chest CT scan shows that "a possible nodule measuring 1.5 X 1.0 cm appeared to the left adrenal gland". Lung, liver, and brain are clear. Her doctor choose to wait and see how it grows in three months before making treatment decision.

Has anyone had metastasis to adrenal gland? How critical it is to one’s survival and how is that normally treated (or is it treatable)?

Any information or comment you have will be greatly appreciated!

Sharon

Montana · 07-11-2006, 11:40 AM

My CAT scan showed a 1.6 cm somewhat hypodense entity in the left adrenal gland. They re-scanned again in 6 months and decided it was an adrenal adenoma (benign). Hopefully, for your mom, it will be benign, also.

sharonf · 07-11-2006, 01:22 PM

Hi Montana,

Thanks for replying. Did this adrenal adenomo appeared as something new when compared with previous scan, or it has always been there? Did your doctor give you any explanation why it appeared?

Thanks,
Sharon

Montana · 07-11-2006, 01:40 PM

They found it on my first CT scan last September along with other spots in liver and kidney. All were deemed "cysts" due to no growth in the 6 month interval between scans. I was never able to find much information regarding mets to the adrenal gland from bc.

Welcome to the site, Sharon. There are some extremely intelligent and dedicated people here that can probably answer your questions and concerns better than I.

sharonf · 10-11-2006, 02:36 PM

Just thought to give an update: My mom had another CT scan of the abdomen, and this time the adrenal mass is no longer visible. The doctor couldn't give me a good explanation. I wonder if the previous scan result was simply false-positive (since it did say "a possible nodule"), or it was a benign one that comes and goes, or all the supplements I had my mom taken in the past three months worked? I guess I'll never know...

Sandy H · 10-11-2006, 07:09 PM

Sharon some times we never know the answer but the important thing here is it is gone which is great news! Perhaps, a follow up scan is due in a few months to make sure it is really gone. hugs, Sandy

Becky · 10-12-2006, 07:35 PM

Dear Sharon

My mom had bc but is only highly ER and PR positive (while I am Her2+). My mom was just diagnosed with 3 adrenal tumors (2 on the left and 1 one the right). They are non functioning and determined to be benign. We certainly were worried because there were 3 and adrenal tumors (whether benign or malignant) are rare. And it is very rare to met there. Regardless if they are benign or malignant, it is important to go to an endocrinologist who can do a 24 hour urine test (in conjunction with bloodwork) to determine if the tumor is a functioning or non-functioning one. A functioning tumor is one that produces more adrenal hormones than normal. Those hormones are cortisols and adrenaline. There are also hormones that control the potassium/sodium balance and blood pressure. The 24 hour urine test is simple. The doctor will give your mom a jug and she will "catch" all her urine in a day and put it in the jug and then take it back to the doctor.

They will also take blood then too. My mom's are not functioning but they need to be checked because they can grow (one did) and if they get to be over 4 cm, they can become functioning or they can start to cause pain because they can press on other things. She also had a PET scan to rule out cancer for sure. Even my mom's oncologist said it would be soooo rare for it to be mets or actual adrenal cancer.

Don't worry but get it checked out to make sure it is not a functioning tumor. If it is, it has to be removed as it can cause problems (mostly uncontrolled blood pressure).

I hope this helps. I did briefly report on this board that I was going through this with my mother starting this past April. At least I can shed some light on it for you.

Kindest regards

Becky

shinyu_fan · 10-14-2006, 10:56 PM

Hi Becky,

Thank you for sharing the information. It is indeed very helpful. I was at one point thinking about having my mom do the urine test but gave up because her doc said it is quite involved (but it doesn't sound too bad according to your description). At present, the CT scan does not even show the tumor anymore. Do you think it would still help to get the test done?

My mom's blood pressure did become very high at times in the past several months (even she already takes high blood pressure medicine). Now I wonder if that could be related to adrenal function...

Thanks,
Sharon

shinyu_fan · 10-14-2006, 11:15 PM

Oops... both shinyu_fan and sharonf are my accounts. Some how I was logged in as shinyu_fan automatically and I jsut don't know how to switch.

Becky · 10-15-2006, 07:50 AM

Sharon

The 24 hour urine test isn't a pain - you just have to be home to catch all your urine and put it into the jug. Usually they start it around 2 pm so that at 2pm the next day, you go to the doctor or lab and drop off the jug and they take blood at the same time.

My mom has high blood pressure but it was easy to control with high blood pressure pills. Her potassium was very low because one of the medications was a diuretic. However, these can be symptoms of a functioning adrenal tumor or, in my mom's case, a coincidence.

If your mom's high blood pressure can't be controlled with medication, I would seriously consider the test. One of my mom's tumors "fades in and out" during the CT scans she's had on it (the smaller 8 mm one) because CT scans are just sliced xrays and then they are put back together to form the image. So, it depends on how they put the image back together and the small "nodules" can be harder to read (and the radialogist who read one particular CT scan actually said exactly that in the diagnostic verbage).

Anyway, the bottom line is that these are extremely rare to be a primary or met cancer.

Have a great weekend

Becky

shinyu_fan · 10-15-2006, 10:11 PM

Thank you Becky!! I will ask my mom to get the urine test. I might email you privately for more questions. Hope that is ok with you.

Sharon

Becky · 10-16-2006, 04:01 AM

Its fine with me. Its listed under my stats on this site.

Becky