Adrenal failure due to bilateral metastases as the sole manifestation of relapsing lung carcinoma. Report of two cases.

We describe two patients with lung carcinoma in whom adrenal glands were the sole site of tumor relapse, revealed by the appearance of Addison's disease. Both patients showed bilateral adrenal masses on US and/or CAT scans and received hormone replacement therapy, with rapid improvement of their general conditions. One of them, with small-cell carcinoma, could also be treated with further chemotherapy and achieved a second remission. Therefore, we stress that patients with lung carcinoma should be periodically screened for adrenal deposits by US or CAT and undergo prophylactic steroid maintenance whenever metastatic involvement of the glands is detected.