Adrenal adenoma recurrence after surgery

Adrenal adenomas are usually benign tumors, and recurrence after surgery is very rare. Common adenomas can cause hypercortisolism, primary aldosteronism. For hypercortisolism, such adenomas are unlikely to recur after surgery. For primary aldosteronism, recurrence is possible if surgery removes only the adenoma or preserves the adrenal gland. Because primary hyperaldosteronism is normally multiple adenomas, a small percentage of patients are prone to relapse after surgery, so if the clinical diagnosis is primary hyperaldosteronism, we normally need to remove one adrenal gland completely rather than simply remove the adenoma.