A CASE OF ADRENAL CORTICAL TUMOR IN AN ADULT MALE CAUSING GYNECOMASTIA AND LACTATION

Abstract

Adrenal cortical tumors in the adult male producing endocrine disturbances are rare. The privilege of recording another case, not my own, is due to courteous permission granted by the Commanding Officer of the Letterman General Hospital, Presidio, San Francisco.* Inasmuch as cortical hyperfunction masculinizes the little girl and the adult female and causes a young boy to develop the genitalia and sexual characteristics of an adult male, it might be supposed that the same sort of tumor or hyperplasia, when it occurs in a man, would intensify masculine traits, but curiously enough such does not seem to be the case. Indeed, the very opposite takes place; the man becomes feminized. This peculiar phenomenon would appear to be paradoxical. A remarkable case published by Holl1 in 1930 illustrates this. A man aged 44 years, the father of two healthy sons, had been a gymnastic instructor, virile and athletic. During the previous 2 years his breasts enlarged in characteristic feminine fashion; they became tender and mammary glands similar to those of a woman could be felt; marked pigmentation of the nipple areolae developed, and a congested network of veins became apparent around the nipples and over the breasts.