Laparoscopic Resection of Solitary Adrenal Metastasis from Lung Carcinoma: A Case Report

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Patients with adrenal metastases from bronchogenic carcinoma are considered incurable and any surgical treatment is usually excluded. A review of the few cases of adrenalectomy for metastases from lung cancer that have been reported in the literature shows that good results can be achieved in selected patients. We propose a laparoscopic approach to perform the adrenalectomy in these patients. METHODS A right laparoscopic adrenalectomy for metastasis from lung adenocarcinoma was performed. The right adrenal was resected using the anterior transperitoneal laparoscopic approach. RESULTS The tumor was resected in total. The operating time was two hours. One year after surgery the patient remains well. CONCLUSIONS The current indications for laparoscopic adrenalectomy can include the removal of small metastatic adrenal lesions in selected cases.