Diagnosis and surgical treatment of small adrenal pheochromocytoma / 中华泌尿外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical features , diagnosis and key technique points of laparoscopic partial adrenalectomy for small adrenal pheochromocytoma . Methods From Oct.2006 to Jun. 2011, clinical data of 32 cases with small adrenal pheochromocytoma (≤3.0 cm) were collected and retro-spectively analyzed .Hypertension was observed in 12 patients, whereas 20 patients presented with adrenal incidentaloma .Thirteen patients had a left adrenal neoplasm , eighteen patients had a right adrenal tumor , while one patients had bilateral tumors .The positive rate of plasma-free metanephrines ( MNs) and 24-hours urinary catecholamine (CA) in diagnosing small renal pheochromocytomas was 92.6%(25/27) and 81.3%(26/32) respectively.The main localization diagnosis included ultrasonography , 131I-MIBG, and CT or MRI, with positive rates of 71.9%(23/32), 93.8%(15/16) and 96.9%(31/32) respectively.All the laparoscopic adrenalectomies were performed retroperitoneally .During the surgery , the internal part of the adrenal gland closing to the retroperitoneum was dissected first , and the whole adrenal gland was resected completely. Results Partial adrenalectomy was performed for 30 cases and radical adrenalectomy for 2 ca-ses.All operations were successful without perioperative or postoperative complications .The maximum diame-ter of tumor was 1.7±0.2 (1.0-3.0) cm.Histopathological results showed that all the cases were benign pheochromocytoma.The operative time was 82 (40-210) min.The estimated blood loss was 57 (20-180) ml.No patient required blood transfusion . Conclusions Plasma-free MNs, 24-hours urinary CA and VMA are important qualitative examinations in detection of adrenal pheochromocytoma .Ultrasonography , CT,MRI, and 131 I-MIBG are important in the localization of adrenal tumors .Retroperitoneal laparascopic partial adrenalectomy is the preferred choice in the management of small adrenal pheochromocytoma .Dissecting the internal part of the adrenal gland closing to the retroperitoneum first and exploring the whole adrenal tissue are the key technique points during the operations .