LAPAROSCOPIC ADRENAL SURGERY

Minimally invasive adrenalectomy is now an accepted alternative to con ventional adrenalectomy. As in open surgery, several different endosco pic approaches to the adrenal glands have been described. In principle , one must distinguish between the laparoscopic and the retroperitoneo scopic access. All adrenal tumors - pheochromocytomas included - excep t adrenal carcinomas can be removed endoscopically. However, the use o f these techniques is limited in patients with particularly large tumo rs. The results reported to date are convincing. Only limited data are available as yet to compare conventional and endoscopic adrenalectomy . Because adrenal diseases requiring surgery are rare, endoscopic adre nalectomy is an operation that, for the present, will be limited to ce nters with a particular interest in laparoscopic and endocrine surgery .