Retroperitoneal hibernoma resected via laparoscopic surgery

Hibernomas are extremely rare, benign tumors of brown fat origin with no specific symptoms. Surgery is the only treatment option, and because a definitive preoperative diagnosis is often not obtained, open surgery is usually chosen. In this case, we performed laparoscopic surgery on a 33-year-old woman with retroperitoneal hibernoma. As in most cases, a definitive diagnosis had not been preoperatively made; therefore, we laparoscopically removed the retroperitoneal tumor of unknown pathology as a diagnostic treatment. We chose laparoscopic surgery because of the magnifying effect of the laparoscope and to minimize scarring. The surgery was uneventful, with a procedure time of 280 minutes and a blood loss of 20 mL. The postoperative course was uneventful with no complications or recurrence. We conclude that laparoscopic surgery may be a viable option for hibernomas.