Adrenal-preserving minimally invasive surgery: the role of laparoscopic partial adrenalectomy, cryosurgery, and radiofrequency ablation of the adrenal gland.

Overview

Adrenalectomy has become the standard of care for the management of hormonally active adrenal masses. Various surgical therapies have been proposed to excise completely or destroy these adrenal lesions, which may be benign or malignant. New minimally invasive, adrenal-sparing procedures have recently been introduced, among them laparoscopic partial adrenalectomy, cryosurgery, and radiofrequency ablation. These procedures focus on reducing patient morbidity and hastening postoperative recovery while preserving normal adrenal tissue. However, questions remain about the risks and benefits associated with routine application of minimally invasive therapies for adrenal-sparing surgery in terms of complete tumor extirpation. Clearly, more experience and longer follow-up is necessary to validate these procedures. Herein we describe the surgical techniques and early results of treatment with adrenal-sparing surgery.