We believe that a patient with adrenal carcinoma and widespread metastasis1 was cured of metastatic adrenal carcinoma by chemotherapy, and we wish to report this cure.
PATIENT SUMMARY
The patient was a 17-year-old woman when she first came to Nassau County Medical Center in December 1964 with abdominal pain. In May of that year, a diagnosis of Cushing syndrome was made and confirmed by the finding of elevated urinary steroid levels at another hospital. In June, an adrenal carcinoma weighing 1,520 gm was surgically removed from the left side. Immediately following surgery, the patient did well with resolution of the Cushing syndrome; however, by December, mild weight gain and hirsutism had reoccurred. Twenty-four-hour urinary 17-ketogenic and 17-ketosteroid steroid levels were elevated, 45 mg and 22 mg, respectively, and were not suppressible by dexamethasone, 2 mg/day for two days. The plasma cortisol level was also elevated (26.5μg/100 ml) and without