Complications of laparoscopic and retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomies in 370 cases in Japan: a multi-institutional study

Summary A total of 370 laparoscopic adrenalectomies, including 311 transperitoneal (TP) and 59 retroperitoneal (RP) approaches, were performed in nine urologic centers, where the laparoscopic adrenalectomy was first begun independently in Japan, and their affiliated hospitals between January 1992 and September 1996. The clinical diagnoses of those 370 adrenal diseases were primary aldosteronism in 155 patients, Cushing's syndrome in 61, preclinical Cushing's syndrome in 21, pheochromocytoma in 16, nonfunctioning adenoma in 87, complicated cyst in ten, myelolipoma in nine, adrenal cancer in four and other diagnoses in eight ( table I ). There was no mortality in this series. Intraoperative complication rate was 33/370 (9%) in total: 26/311 (8%) in the TP procedures and 7/59 (12%) in the RP procedures ( table II ). Postoperative complication rate was 24/370 (6%) in total: 22/311 (7%) in the TP procedures and 2/59 (3%) in the RP ones ( table III ). Conversion rates to open surgery in total, in the TP and in the RP procedures were 13/370 (3.5%), 10/311 (3.2%) and 3/59 (5.1%), respectively ( table IV ). Although the RP procedure has a lower morbidity rare compared to the TP procedure, more skill is required to overcome the drawback of the narrow working space and fewer anatomical landmarks.