The scintigraphic localization of mineralocorticoid-producing adrenocortical carcinoma.

I-131-6 beta-iodomethylnorcholesterol (NP-59) was used to localize mineralocorticoid-secreting adrenocortical carcinomas in two patients and functioning metastases in a third patient studied after the removal of the primary tumor. The presence of sufficient NP-59 activity within these lesions for discernable imaging is unusual and would not have been expected based on previous experience with other functioning and nonfunctioning carcinomas of the adrenal cortex. These cases serve to illustrate the variable spectrum of iodocholesterol uptake into adrenocortical malignancies and suggest that scintigraphic studies, preoperatively for localization and postoperatively to confirm the presence of recurrence or metastases, might be useful to identify and characterize these rare neoplasms.