Adrenalectomy in Breast Cancer

Continued excretion of oestrogen produced by the adrenal cortex occurs after oophorectomy in the majority of women with breast cancer. In 1945 Huggins and Scott performed bilateral adrenalectomy in four cases of advanced breast and prostatic cancer in an attempt to remove the second source of oestrogen pro duction from the body. One patient survived for 116 days in a hypo-adrenal state, with some objective improvement in skeletal m?tastases. When cortisone became available the operation was carried out in 18 cases (Huggins and Bergenstal, 1952). Seven were women suffering from cancer of the breast, and clinical improvement was induced in all of them. The results stimulated great interest in the subject, and since 1952 many series of cases have been reported. It seems that bilateral adrenalectomy can play a definite and some times valuable part in the palliative treatment of breast cancer.