Adrenal gland & paraganglia
Other nonneoplastic
Ectopic adrenal tissue
Author: Nat Pernick, M.D.
Topic Completed: 1 February 2005
Minor changes: 2 September 2021
Copyright: 2002-2021, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Ectopic adrenal tissue
Cite this page: Pernick N. Ectopic adrenal tissue. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/adrenalaccessoryadrenaltissue.html. Accessed December 7th, 2021.
Definition / general
- Nests of adrenal tissue located away from adrenal gland
- Also called heterotopia, although technically this term refers to displacement to an abnormal location, not the presence of accessory tissue elsewhere in body
- Due to migration of adrenocortical primordial cells with gonads
Clinical features
- Usually without accompanying medullary tissue; cases near celiac ganglion may also contain medullary tissue
- Common sites: retroperitoneal space along urogenital ridge, beyond renal capsule in upper pole, hilum of ovary or testes and along course of spermatic cord
- Present in 1% of inguinal hernia sacs
- May be accompanied by malformation of epididymis
- May be fused with liver or kidney and surrounded by a common capsule
- May undergo same disease processes as ordinary adrenal glandular
Differential diagnosis
- Metastatic renal cell carcinoma
- Other clear cell tumors
See also
Nonadrenal tissue present in adrenal gland
General
Case reports
General
- Very rare (except for metastases)
Case reports
- Benign intraadrenal thyroid tissue (Hum Pathol 1999;30:105)
