Alternate methods for laparoscopic management of adnexal masses greater than 10 cm in diameter

We describe alternate laparoscopic methods for inspection and removal of large adnexal masses, and report our experience with 18 cases in which these methods were used.

Between April 1994 and January 2000, the first author performed operative laparoscopy on 18 patients, each of whom had at least one adnexal mass with maximum diameter greater than 10 cm. Mean patient age was 32 years (range 11 to 82). Seventeen of the 18 patients were premenopausal. All procedures were performed at one of two community hospitals in Seattle or at Yuan's General Hospital in Taiwan. Preoperative screening included pelvic exam, tumor markers, and ultrasound.

One 82-year-old patient underwent planned laparoscopic bilateral oopherectomy. In the other 17 cases the operative goal was cystectomy or unilateral oopherectomy with conservation of reproductive function. Cystectomy was successfully performed in five of these cases (29.4%). The remaining 12 patients underwent either unilateral oopherectomy (10 cases, 58.8%), or unilateral salpingo oopherectomy (2 cases, 8.8%) due to the extent of their mass. Sixteen of the 18 cases in this series were successfully managed by a single laparoscopic surgery, one case required a second-look laparoscopy, and in one case a malignancy was found by histological analysis of permanent section, which required a second laparoscopy for staging and debulking.

Large adnexal masses can be successfully managed with minimal hospital stay using laparoscopic techniques, when care is taken to avoid rupture and spillage of cyst contents, and thorough inspection of the mass and abdominal cavity is made possible. The probability of finding an unexpected malignancy is low. In those cases where a malignancy is found, appropriate cytoreductive staging surgery can be performed immediately.