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Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology 30:68-74 (2000)
© 2000 Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research

The Surgical Approach to the Adrenal Gland: a Comparison of the Retroperitoneal and the Transabdominal Routes in 326 Operations on 284 Patients

Suresh K. Nagesser1, Job Kievit1, Jo Hermans2, H. Michiel J. Krans3 and Cornelis J.H. van de Velde1,+

Departments of 1Surgery, 2Medical Statistics and 3Endocrinology and Metabolism, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

Background: To compare the results of adrenalectomy using a retroperitoneal and a transabdominal approach, especially for adrenal carcinoma and pheochromocytoma.

Methods: A retrospective study was carried out at the Leiden University Medical Center. Charts of 284 patients who had undergone 326 adrenal operations between 1947 and 1995, including 44 patients with adrenal cancer and 60 patients with pheochromocytoma, were reviewed. The main outcome measures were operation time, blood loss, hospital stay and intra- and post-operative complications.

Results: In patients who underwent adrenalectomy (ADX) using a retroperitoneal (RP) approach, duration of operation, intra-operative blood loss, hospital stay and post-operative morbidity compared favourably with those undergoing a transabdominal approach (TA-ADX). However, most of these differences could be explained by the more frequently benign nature and smaller size of the lesions in patients undergoing RP-ADX. However, blood loss remained lower after correction for confounding in all patients undergoing RP-ADX. In patients with larger adrenal lesions, adrenal cancer and pheochromocytoma, that would nowadays be held unsuitable for laparoscopic adrenalectomy, RP-ADX was associated with shorter operation time, less blood loss and less intra-operative complications.

Conclusion: Although laparoscopic adrenalectomy is the treatment of choice for small and benign adrenal lesions, larger lesions and/or adrenal malignancy require open adrenalectomy. In these cases the retroperitoneal approach is the preferred route.

+ For reprints and all correspondence: C. J. H. van de Velde, Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Center, P.O. Box 9600, 2300 RC Leiden, The NetherlandsAbbreviations: RP-ADX, adrenalectomy through a retroperitoneal approach; TA-ADX, adrenalectomy through a transabdominal approach; L-ADX, laparoscopic adrenalectomy


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