Pigmented adenoma of adrenal cortex associated with Cushing's syndrome: light and electron microscopic study.

A pigmented adenoma of the adrenal cortex was surgically removed from a thirty-nine-year-old woman with clinical and biochemical manifestations of Cushing's syndrome. Light and electron microscopic study revealed numerous pigment granules, exhibiting the structural features of lipofuscin in the cytoplasm of the adenoma cells. It appears that adrenocortical adenomas with excessive pigment deposition can be accompanied by increased production of corticosteroid hormones.