Has experience changed the scenario in laparoscopic adrenalectomy?

Surgical management of large adrenal tumors: impact of different laparoscopic approaches and resection methods on perioperative and long-term outcomes

Background

The indication of retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy (RLA) was extended with the retroperitoneal approach and has been wildly accepted and technologically matured. However, the management of large adrenal tumors via this approach still remains controversial. The aim of this study was to perform a comprehensive analysis on the minimally invasive surgical management of larger adrenal tumors.

Methods

A total of 78 patients with large adrenal tumors (> 5 cm) and 97 patients with smaller adrenal tumors (< 5 cm) were enrolled in this study. The patient characteristics were preferentially analyzed. The intra-operative and postoperative indicators were compared between those who underwent RLA and those who underwent transperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy (TLA); the intra-operative and postoperative indicators were also compared between the large tumor group and smaller tumor group of those who underwent RLA. Furthermore, the analyses of partial RLA were focused on the perioperative indicators and follow-up results.

Results

RLA was superior to TLA in terms of operation time (98.71 ± 32.30 min vs. 124.36 ± 34.62 min, respectively, P = 0.001), hospitalization duration (7.43 ± 2.82 days vs. 8.91 ± 3.40 days, respectively, P = 0.04), duration of drain (4.83 ± 0.37 days vs. 3.94 ± 2.21 days, respectively, P = 0.02), first oral intake (2.82 ± 0.71 days vs. 1.90 ± 0.83 days, respectively, P < 0.001) and time to ambulation (3.89 ± 1.64 days vs. 2.61 ± 1.42 days, respectively, P < 0.001). Further analyses of the RLA patients demonstrated that the larger tumor (> 5 cm) group showed superior results for the intraoperative indicators than the smaller tumor (< 5 cm) group (P < 0.05), while the results for the postoperative indicators between the two tumor size groups were similar (P > 0.05). Data confirmed that the partial resection method was superior to the total resection method from the perspective of the hormone supplement (0% vs. 48.15%, P = 0.002). The 2-year recurrence-free rates were 92.60 and 92.86% for the total and partial RLA resection methods, respectively (P = 0.97). The partial RLA resection method had a similar complete remission rate as the total RLA resection method (96.30% vs. 100%, respectively, P = 0.47).

Conclusion

Both RLA and TLA seem to provide similar effects for the surgical management of large adrenal tumors. However, partial RLA resection should be considered for the management of benign tumors to reduce the hormone supplement.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12894-018-0349-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Lateral retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy for complicated adrenal tumor larger than 5 centimeters

BACKGROUND

The role of lateral retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy (LRA) for complicated tumor with large diameter remains controversial, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of this procedure on the management of tumor larger than 5cm in diameter.

METHODS

A retrospective comparison was conducted of 67 patients with large complicated adrenal tumor (>5cm). 41 patients received LRA, and 26 received open adrenalectomy (OA) in our hospital between January 2011 and June 2015. Basic characteristics regarding mean age, gender, body mass index (BMI), tumor size, tumor side, previous abdominal surgery, resection method, pathology were preferentially analyzed. Operative indicators regarding operation time, estimated blood loss (EBL), conversion to ICU, complications, post-operative hospitalization, duration of drain, time to first oral intake and ambulation were compared between groups.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences between the two groups in the basic characteristics. The mean operation time for LRA was shorter than OA (98.7±32.3 min vs 152.7±72.3 min, P = 0.001). EBL was 31.9±20.0 ml for LRA and 590.0±1181.1 ml for OA (P = 0.03). There was no complication in LRA group and one patient in OA group had complications, but this difference was not significant (P = NS). The post-operative hospitalization in LRA was 7.4±2.8 days, and shorter than 9.8±2.7 days in OA group (P = 0.00). The time to first oral intake and ambulation for LRA was shorter than OA (first oral intake, 1.9±0.8 days vs 3.1±1.3 days, P = 0.00; time to ambulation, 2.6±1.4 days vs 4.2±1.6 days, P = 0.00). While the difference between groups were not significant in terms of ICU conversion (3/41 vs 4/26, P = NS) and duration of drain (3.9±2.2 days vs 4.7±1.9 days, P = NS).

CONCLUSION

Our study shows that LRA can be performed safely and effectively for complicated adrenal tumors larger than 5 cm in diameter, but it remains technically demanding.