Abstract:

Objective: Laparoscopic adrenalectomy is the gold standard surgical technique for benign adrenal tumors. On the other hand, most surgeons still prefer to perform open surgery for adrenal tumors. This may be related with the surgeons opinions that laparoscopic adrenalectomy is an advanced laparoscopic surgery and has a high learning curve. In this article we present the results of our initial transperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy cases. Methods: Lateral transperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy cases that were performed between 2013 and 2015, were retrospectively analyzed. Patient demographics, pathological types, operation time, blood loss, hospitalization time and complications were evaluated and compared with the literature. Results: A total of 21 patients were analyzed. Twelve (57.1%) patients had right and 9(42.9%) patients had left laparoscopic adrenalectomy. Mean operation time was 130.2±39.1 min, average blood loss was 197.6±72.4 ml and average hospitalization time was 3.09±1.57 days. Pathology reports of adrenal tumors were pheochromocytoma at 4 patients, myeloma at 1 patient and adenoma at 16 patients. Patients with tumor size > 5 cm had significantly higher blood loss, operation time and hospitalization time compared to tumors < 5 cm. (p<0.05) Conclusion: Laparoscopic adrenalectomy is a safe and feasible technique. Transperitoneal approach would be more suitable technique for initial cases. Surgeons must consider the tumor size and possible pathology of the adrenal tumor to decide the surgical technique.

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