Clinical Efficacy Analysis of Different Surgical Methods for Giant Adrenal Tumors (≥10 cm): A Single-Center Study of 44 Cases.

Objective

The objective of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of open adrenalectomy (OA) and laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) by summarizing the clinical features and treatment experience of giant adrenal tumors.

Methods

The clinical data of 44 patients with adrenal tumors ≥10 cm admitted to the Second Hospital of Lanzhou University from January 2006 to August 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The mean tumor diameter was 11.6 ± 1.8 cm. Regular follow-up was performed to observe the outcome of symptoms and the recurrence after operation.

Results

All the 44 patients successfully completed the operation and were divided into the OA group (21 cases) and the LA group (11 cases of transabdominal laparoscopic adrenalectomy [TLA] and 12 cases of retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy [RLA]) according to different operation methods. The analysis results showed that the proportion of estimated blood loss (EBL) >100 mL and the postoperative length of stay (PLOS) in the LA group were superior to those in the OA group, and there were no significant differences in other surgical indicators (P > .05); subgroup analysis was conducted for patients in the LA group according to different surgical pathways, and the results showed that there were no significant differences in each surgical indicator between TLA and RLA (P > .05). Among the 44 patients, 15 (34.1%) had intraoperative complications, 19 (43.2%) had postoperative complications, and 5 (21.7%) were converted from LA to OA. The median follow-up time was 68 (5-162) months.

Conclusions

For adrenal tumors with diameter ≥10 cm, both LA and OA have relatively large damage to the patients, and the incidence of conversion to open surgery is also high. However, LA is superior to OA in EBL and PLOS. Given the fact that giant adrenal tumors are mainly pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma and have an increased possibility of malignancy, we suggest that the relationship between tumors and peripheral important blood vessels and organs should be carefully evaluated before operation, and the operative methods should be selected according to the experience of the surgeon.