Aim: The treatment of adrenal metastasis using laparoscopic surgery is evolving. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) in patients who have adrenal metastases.
Methods: From September 1998 to November 2010, 12 patients underwent LA for adrenal metastatic tumors. Three cases were bilateral and 9 were unilateral. We retrospectively reviewed the clinical and histopathologic data of all 12 patients.
Results: The operations of all the 12 cases were successful. There were no intraoperative complications. The mean follow-up time was 17.2 months (range, 2 to 56 mo). We found no intraperitoneal and/or port-site recurrence. One patient had died from metastatic disease.
Conclusions: Our experience leads us to feel that LA is feasible when the primary tumor is well controlled, there are no other metastases clinically and radiologically, when the adrenal metastasis is confined to the adrenal gland, and there is no radiologic evidence of local extension into tissue around the adrenal gland.