PhD candidate, Specialist Internal Medicine Utrecht University / IVC Evidensia NL Breda, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Disclosure(s):
Kirsten L. van Bokhorst, DECVIM-CA (Internal Medicine): Boehringer Ingelheim: Diabetes mellitus expert panel NL (Terminated, January 28, 2025)
This session covers an observational study on steroid metabolome analysis in adrenocortical tumors in dogs.
Seemingly hormonally silent adrenocortical tumors (SATs) are typically diagnosed incidentally during diagnostic imaging in dogs with either no or only mild clinical features suggestive of adrenal disease. While treatment options are clear for hormonally active adrenal tumors, SATs present a dilemma for the clinician. The aim of this study was to evaluate the production of adrenocortical steroids including those not typically included in standard endocrine tests in canine SATs.
Diagnosis of SAT was based on presence of an adrenal mass on diagnostic imaging and exclusion of naturally occurring hypercortisolism, hyperaldosteronism and pheochromocytoma through endocrine testing. Dogs with SATs underwent adrenalectomy and histopathology with immunohistochemistry was performed to confirm the tumor’s adrenocortical origin. Steroid metabolites (n=17) originating from all three adrenocortical zones were analyzed by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Results were compared with metabolomic profiling of canine cortisol-secreting adrenocortical tumors (csACTs, n=10) and normal adrenal cortices (NAs, n=10) from dogs euthanized for reasons unrelated to the present study. With this analysis, it was investigated whether these so-called "silent" adrenocortical tumors are truly silent on a tissue level.
Learning Objectives:
Summarize the study design and key findings on glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid tissue concentrations in hormonally silent versus cortisol-secreting adrenocortical tumors and normal adrenal cortices in dogs.
Understand the conclusion of so‑called “silent” adrenocortical tumors being not truly silent on a tissue level.
Appreciate that some so‑called “silent” adrenocortical tumors may have greater clinical relevance than initially assumed, despite negative standard endocrine function tests.
Understand the need for further investigation of these specific tumors to better guide diagnostic strategies and therapeutic decision‑making in affected dogs.
