acute abdominal pain secondary to retroperitoneal bleeding from a giant adrenal lipoma with review of literature

Adrenal lipomas are rare, non-functioning benign tumours, which are primarily detected during autopsy or imaging, as asymptomatic incidentalomas. Occasionally, they can present with abdominal pain due to their large size. Imaging studies help to determine the origin, volume, composition of the lesion and presence of bleeding. Histopathology, however, is necessary to differentiate an adrenal lipoma from other fatty tumours such as myelolipoma, angiomyolipomas, teratomas and liposarcomas. We report a case of spontaneous bleeding from a giant adrenal lipoma that presented as an acute abdomen, and was initially mistaken on imaging for the more common myelolipoma. The literature is reviewed to discuss the clinical, pathological and radiological features, and the optimum therapeutic management.