[The role of echography in the diagnosis of adrenal masses].

Ultrasound investigations, which are non-invasive and have a relatively low cost, are of primary importance nowadays in the diagnosis of a number of abdominal diseases. Nevertheless, their use to study adrenal masses still gives rise to different interpretations, as the small dimensions, deep position within the retroperitoneum and fatty envelopment of the normal adrenal gland make it difficult to identify using this method. However, the introduction of new equipment and probes with a higher image resolution, combined with increasing experience on the part of the operators, is greatly improving the situation. The percentage of visualization of the normal adrenal gland, which in the past was only 78% on the left and 44% on the right, according to Yeh, now oscillates between 90 and 95% on the left and 70 and 90% on the right. The overall sensitivity of ultrasound investigations found by the A.A. on a total of 44 expanding processes successively subjected to surgery, was 86.3% (96% on the right, 68.4% on the left, with a sensitivity of 100% for all masses greater than 3 cm. These results confirm the role of ultrasound in the diagnosis of adrenal masses.