Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : A case of typical Addison's disease secondary to occult metastatic seminoma is described. The diagnosis of Addison's disease was based on characteristic clinical manifestations and was confirmed by the ACTH test and by the favorable response to the cortisone substitution therapy. The first symptoms had appeared more than one year before the presence of cancer as the causative factor was recognized. The autopsy findings suggest that the adrenals were invaded by contiguous growth from retroperitoneal tumor deposits and were destroyed as a result of infarction. Although infarction of the adrenals by surrounding tumor has not been described previously, this mechanism may conceivably be operating in cases of adrenal failure secondary to breast and bronchogenic carcinomas. From this case and from another one reported in the literature occult metastatic cancer of the adrenals must be regarded as a possible, although rare, cause of Addison's disease. Copyright © 1966 American Cancer Society