Catecholamine and cytokine response to laparoscopic adrenalectomy in patients with pheochromocytoma

This study assesses the surgical stress of laparoscopic adrenalectomy (LA) in patients with pheochromocytoma using catecholamine and cytokine. The study was conducted on one patient who had laparoscopic adrenalectomy performed for pheochromocytoma, and three patients as controls who had undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) for cholecystolithiasis. Catecholamines, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) were measured at 30-minute intervals intraoperatively, and on the first, third and fifth postoperative days (POD) respectively. Plasma TNFalpha and IL-6 were measured by a commercially available sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test. During the operation. changes of catecholamine concentration in LA were far larger than those in LC. The changes of TNFalpha concentration in LA were also larger than those in LC. TNFalpha returned to basal value at the end of the operation in LC, but it did not in LA. TNFalpha concentration in LC changed a little after the surgery, whereas that in LA sharply increased and was maintained at a high level from 1 POD until 5 POD. Enhanced cytokine responses were observed in LA compared to LC during and after the surgery. We concluded that laparoscopic adrenalectomy may give those patients with pheochromocytoma more surgical stress than laparoscopic cholecystectomy for cholecystolithiasis, during and after the operation.