Open adrenalectomy

In an era when minimally invasive adrenalectomy is the gold standard treatment for majority of patients presenting with adrenal tumours, open adrenalectomy has become an operation that should be centralised in regional referral centers. Its main indication is represented by patients with large (>8 cm) phaeochromocytomas and patients with cortical adrenal tumours suspected of malignancy either because of their size (>4-6 cm) or because of radiological appearance of local invasion. Based on local expertise some of these patients might benefit from multidisciplinary input from liver or transplant surgeons. This chapter will discuss the anatomical landmarks and will comment on different steps in the procedure for right- or left-sided procedure. It is outside the scope of this chapter to settle the ongoing debate about patient selection for laparoscopic or open adrenalectomy when the diagnosis of adrenocortical cancer is suspected preoperatively.