Adrenal Ganglioneuroma Treated by Laparoscopic Surgery

ABSTRACT

Adrenal ganglioneuromas are rare benign tumors arising from the neural crest tissue of the sympathoadrenal nervous system. Because most of these tumors are hormonally silent and patients with them are often asymptomatic, they are often identified incidentally in patients undergoing abdominal imaging studies for unrelated reasons. Diagnosis of this entity is very difficult to make, with definitive diagnosis being based on histological examination. Surgical resection may be both diagnostic and therapeutic. A technique for laparoscopic adrenalectomy of benign adrenal tumors has recently been developed. If the tumor is excised with an adequate resection margin, the postoperative prognosis is very good. In this report, we describe two cases of adrenal ganglioneuroma that were treated using a laparoscopic resection procedure, and we also present a review of the pertinent literature.