Comparison of synchronous bilateral transperitoneal and posterior retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy: results of a multicenter study

Background Different techniques for laparoscopic adrenalectomy have been proposed with the lateral transperitoneal approach and posterior retroperitoneal approach being the two more frequently minimally invasive surgeries in most of the clinics. There are no sufficient studies in which the results of lateral transperitoneal and posterior retroperitoneal approaches in synchronous bilateral laparoscopic adrenalectomy have been compared. In the current study, we aimed to report our multicenter results of the lateral transperitoneal and posterior retroperitoneal synchronous bilateral laparoscopic adrenalectomy experience in patients who had different bilateral adrenal pathologies and to compare the outcomes of these two different operative procedures. Methods Between 2012 and 2018, a total of 52 patients with a mean age of 43.5 years underwent simultaneous bilateral laparoscopic adrenalectomy at 6 different centers. Twenty-seven and 25 patients underwent bilateral lateral transperitoneal and posterior retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy, respectively. Patients' age, gender, body max index, operative indications, mass size, operation time, blood loss, length of hospitalization, intraoperative and postoperative complications and pathology reports were analyzed. Results Synchronous bilateral transperitoneal group was younger than synchronous posterior retroperitoneal group (37 years vs. 50.4 years.) ( p : 0.001). Posterior retroperitoneal group had significantly decreased operating time and less blood loss than transperitoneal group. No significant difference was found with regard to postoperative hospital stay, perioperative and postoperative complications between two groups. Majority of the histopathological results were adrenal hyperplasia associated with Cushing’s disease (61.5%). Less frequent pathological results were adrenal adenoma and pheochromocytoma (15.4% and 13.5%, respectively). During the follow-up period, no recurrence or disease-related mortality was observed in the patients. Conclusion Our results shows that shorter operative time and less bleeding can be achieved with posterior retroperitoneal approach in synchronous bilateral laparoscopic adrenalectomy. In our series, intraoperative and postoperative complication rates were similar between both surgical approaches.