TERMINOLOGY AND CLASSIFICATION OF ADRENAL INCIDENTALOMAS.

The term adrenal incidentaloma, literally meaning "adrenal tumor discovered by chance" (incidentally discovered adrenal mass) first appeared in the early 80s. It was from this time that a constant increase in the number of "accidentally" detected adrenal tumors was noted, which is associated with the widespread introduction of non-invasive methods of topical diagnostics (ultrasound, CT, MRI) into clinical practice. In medical literature, one can also find several other names for these neoplasms: clinically silent adrenal masses, "asymptomatic", "non-functioning", "hormonally inactive", etc. At the same time, in works that use these terms, the same researchers identify clinical symptoms of adrenal hyperfunction and changes in the hormonal profile in a significant proportion of patients. According to most authors, the term incidentaloma is the most accurate, since it indicates, first of all, the “accidental” nature of the detection of a neoplasm in the adrenal region.