Or, symptoms can happen because the tumor is large and is pressing on nearby organs.

Symptoms of adrenal cancer can happen because of changes in certain hormones. How does the doctor know I have adrenal cancer? Would you please write down the kind of cancer you think I might have?.Cancers of the adrenal cortex may be called adrenal cortical carcinoma or adrenocortical cancer. Tumors in the adrenal medulla are actually part of the nervous system and are not discussed here. Other adrenal hormones help develop sex organs and control puberty.Ĭancer can start in either part of the adrenal gland (medulla or cortex). For example, some adrenal hormones help the body deal with stress and control blood pressure. The main job of the adrenals is to make certain hormones. The adrenals have 2 parts called the cortex and medulla. The kidneys are inside the upper part of the belly. The adrenals are small glands that are right above the kidneys. For example, if lung cancer spreads to the adrenal gland, it is still called lung cancer. In these cases, the cancer has spread from other organs, so it is not considered or treated like adrenal cancer. Many cancers found in the adrenal glands did not start there. To doctors, the cancer cells in the new place look just like the ones from the adrenal glands.Ĭancer is always named for the place where it starts. When cancer cells do this, it’s called metastasis (pronounced meh-TAS-tuh-sis). Cancer cells in the adrenal glands can sometimes travel to lymph nodes and other organs. If an adrenal tumor is cancerous, the cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body. Adenomas are sometimes found by accident when someone has tests for other reasons. These are not cancer (benign) and don’t cause problems. Most tumors found in the adrenal glands are called adenomas. This makes it hard for the body to work the way it should. An adrenal tumor starts when cells in the adrenal glands grow out of control and crowd out normal cells.

The adrenal gland is to the kidney