What Are the Causes of an Enlarged Adrenal Gland?
You probably don't think about your adrenal glands--those small organs above the kidneys that regulate crucial hormones like cortisol, which helps our body when it's under stress. But these glands can become a problem when they grow too big, and the types of growths in the adrenal realm are many.
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Baseline
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According to Endocrine Web, a clearinghouse for educational materials on endocrine disorders, your adrenal gland is about 4 cm in diameter. The larger the adrenal gland, the greater the odds are that the growth is problematic and possibly even cancerous.
Benign
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In most cases, if you have a growth on your adrenal gland, it's benign, according to the University of Southern California Department of Surgery. Most of the time abnormalities are found during routine CAT or other scans. Usually these masses don't have to be removed. The growth can be a problem when it presses up against other organs.
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Types
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Besides the "benign" mass, many types of "functional" tumors can contribute to adrenal gland enlargement. One of those types is the pheochromocytoma, a dangerous growth that occurs when too much adrenaline is produced. When that happens, blood pressure is elevated to deadly levels. Another mass can over-stimulate androgens, which can cause women to grow facial hair or experience irregular periods, according to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
Genetic Conditions
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You may be born with a condition that makes you adrenal glands larger than they should be. According to the Mayo Clinic, you may have congenital adrenal hyperplasia. What happens with this disorder is the glands don't make enough cortisol, or they make too many other hormones, like androgens such as testosterone. Von-Hippel Lindau Disease is another rare, genetic disorder that can cause tumors in the adrenal glands, kidneys and other areas of the body and can put you at greater risk for cancers, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Insufficiency
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Though rare, Addison's disease is one of the most talked-about adrenal gland diseases. Unlike other tumors that produce too much of a certain hormone, Addison's disease produces too little cortisol. Addison's has been known to be connected to adrenal enlargement, according to the National Institutes of Health.
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