Adrenocortical carcinoma (rare tumor): a case report and literature review

A 40-year-old male patient presented with complaints of pain in abdomen, anorexia, low-grade fever and significant weight loss of one-month duration. USG and CT abdomen showed a large right adrenal space-occupying lesion with mass effect. The mass was resected but the patient succumbed to the surgery within 24 hours. On histopathological examination and immunohistochemistry a diagnosis of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) was made. ACC is a rare endocrine and heterogeneous malignancy with incompletely understood pathogenesis, aggressive course and poor prognosis. Although surgery is the mainstay of treatment in ACC, yet due to late patient presentation with large masses especially in hormonally inactive tumors, many are too late for curative resection, as was this case.