Laparoscopic-extracorporeal surgery performed with a fixation device for adnexal masses complicating pregnancy: Report of two cases

The potential complications associated with an adnexal mass discovered during early pregnancy call for surgical treatment. Ideally, surgery is performed after gestational week 12, but uterine expansion after the first trimester makes surgery difficult. We report two pregnancies complicated by adnexal masses for which we used an organ fixation device for safe performance of single-site umbilical laparoscopic surgery. Pelvic magnetic resonance imaging depicted a dichorionic, diamniotic twin pregnancy and 60-mm right adnexal mass in the first patient and bilateral adnexae in the second. All three masses were suspected mature cystic teratomas. Both patients underwent laparoscopic surgery during gestational week 14. With use of an organ fixation device, traction was applied until the mass reached the umbilicus; tumor resection was performed extracorporeally. In the second patient, the second mass was simply aspirated because adhesions were encountered. Our single-site laparoscopic-extracorporeal technique proved to be a safe approach to an otherwise high-risk situation.