Long-Term Results of Laparoscopic Partial Versus Total Adrenalectomy for Aldosterone Producing Adenoma

Laparoscopy surgery is the gold standard for the treatment of aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA). However, the effectiveness between laparoscopic total and partial adrenalectomy is controversial. Therefore, we retrospectively analyzed the postoperative and follow-up outcomes of these two procedures.

A total of 96 APA patients underwent laparoscopic surgery in our hospital between Jan - uary 2012 and December 2017. A total of 65 patients who underwent laparoscopic partial adrenalectomy (group 1) were compared with 31 patients who underwent laparoscopic total adrenalectomy (group 2). The mean follow-up time was 32.3 months and 40.8 months, respectively. Patient’s preoperative characteristics, date during surgery, and postoperative clinical results of the two groups were analyzed.

In both groups of patients, laparoscopic adrenalectomy was successfully carried out. The laparoscopic partial adrenalectomy group had a shorter operation time when compared to total adrenalectomy ( P = .01). How - ever, patients in the laparoscopic total adrenalectomy group were older ( P = .04) and had a higher proportion of multiple adenomas ( P = .01) compared to partial adrenalectomy. Five patients (7.7%) who underwent partial ad - renalectomy did not show improvement in hypertension and/or serum potassium below normal levels, and review of plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) and/or computerized tomography (CT) indicated that surgery was not successful in these patients. All 31 patients who underwent total adrenalectomy showed improvement or recovery from hypertension, and all PAC and serum potassium levels returned to normal levels after surgery.

Although both surgical procedures were technically safe and feasible, laparoscopic partial adrenalec - tomy showed a higher failure rate (7.7%) for patients with APA. Therefore, choosing laparoscopic partial adrenal - ectomy requires careful consideration, and we selected laparoscopic total adrenalectomy in patients with unilateral APA.