With the advent of adequate adrenal replacement and the development of a simplified anterior operative approach to the adrenals, total or subtotal adrenalectomy should rapidly become a standard procedure for many of the endocrine disorders resulting from hyperfunction or tumor of the adrenal gland. In turn, the modern surgeon will find it necessary to add the terminology of the adrenal physiologist and the endocrinologist to his fund of knowledge and to become familiar with a variety of adrenal hormones, including their mechanism of action and associated clinical phenomena.
This report is based upon cases reported in the literature and upon 12 cases in which operation was performed at Ohio State University Hospital from July, 1950, to August, 1957. The adrenocortical hyper-function problems treated by total or subtotal adrenalectomy include eight cases of primary Cushing's syndrome, two cases of Cushing's syndrome secondary to pituitary tumor, one case of primary aldosteronism, and