Diagnosis of Adrenal Disease by Visualization of Human Adrenal Glands with¹³¹I-19-Iodocholesterol

Abstract

Normally functioning adrenal glands in four patients were readily visualized with the Anger camera and a rectilinear photoscanner after administration of 131I-19-iodocholesterol. Three patients with Cushing's syndrome due to ACTH excess showed adrenal glands approximately equal in size and radioactivity concentration. In a patient with persistent Cushing's syndrome after bilateral total adrenalectomy radioactivity was concentrated in the region of the right adrenal bed compatible with a functioning adrenal remnant. A right adrenal adenoma in a patient with Cushing's syndrome measured 3.5 by 3.0 cm on scan, with no uptake in the opposite gland. At surgery, the adenoma measured 3.5 by 3.0 by 2.7 cm. In two patients, one with a 112-g pheochromocytoma and one with extensive calcifications of one adrenal gland, the involved gland was not imaged, but "normal" adrenal images of the normal contralateral glands were shown.