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Updated: Aug 12, 2025
Endoscopic Endonasal Trans-sphenoidal Approach: Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Adenomas
Published on: January 17, 2018
Simultaneous bilateral laparoscopic cortical-sparing adrenalectomy for bilateral pheochromocytomas in multiple
Xiao-Ping Qi1, Bi-Jun Lian1, Xu-Dong Fang1
1Department of Oncologic and Urologic Surgery, The 903rd PLA Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China.
Purpose:
This study aimed to assess the feasibility of synchronous bilateral laparoscopic or open cortical-sparing adrenalectomy (SB-LCSA or SB-OCSA) for bilateral pheochromocytomas (bPHEOs) in multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2).
Methods:
Altogether, 31 patients (54.8% were women) were diagnosed with MEN2-related bPHEOs, and 29 of them underwent varying specific adrenalectomies. We systematically analyzed and evaluated their clinical profiles, mutation types, tumor histopathological features, and follow-up records.
Results:
All 31 patients with bPHEOs presented with RET-C634 (90.3%) and RET-M918T (9.7%) mutations, and the median age at initial presentation was 38 years (range, 23-78). bPHEOs were synchronous in 27 patients and metachronous in 4 (12.9%) patients. In total, 29 patients underwent initial cortical-sparing adrenalectomy (CSA) including 23 (79.3%) undergoing synchronous bilateral CSA (18 SB-LCSA and 5 SB-OCSA) and 6 (20.7%) undergoing metachronous CSA. SB-LCSA and synchronous surgery were associated with less bleeding volume and shorter length of hospital stay than SB-OCSA and metachronous surgery (all P's < 0.05). Corticosteroid replacement treatment was necessary for 14 patients (45.2%) after bilateral CSA. During a median follow-up period of 7 years (range, 1.8-23), three of these patients (10.3%) had a recurrent disease that required reoperation.
Conclusion:
SB-LCSA is feasible for treating synchronous bPHEOs and should be recommended as a prioritized surgical approach.
