Adrenal and Extra-adrenal Myelolipomas - A Comparative Case Report

Abstract

Myelolipoma is an uncommon benign tumour composed of mature fat tissue and haematopoietic elements and is most commonly found in the adrenal gland. We report a case, which was discovered incidentally on chest X-ray, of a rare occurrence of multifocal extra-adrenal myelolipoma in the thoracic paravertebral region. This was further investigated with multi-detector computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The presumed diagnosis, of extra-adrenal myelolipoma, was histologically confirmed via tissue sample obtained by computed tomography guided biopsy. We compare the adrenal and extra-adrenal entities from the perspective of published literature and also review the cases, published in Pubmed, of extra-adrenal myelolipomas in order to summarize the different locations of this lesion.