Pheochromocytoma. Lateral versus anterior operative approach.

The possibility of bilateral, extra-adrenal, and malignant tumors has dictated a thorough abdominal exploration through an anterior incision in the management of patients with pheochromocytomas. Careful visualization or palpation of the sites known to harbor secondary tumors is still recommended by many surgeons. The present study contrasts the results and morbidity of the retroperitoneal approach with that of the intraperitoneal operative approach for resection of pheochromocytoma. In the last 14 years, 37 patients had successful total resections of their pheochromocytomas, excluding one patient with metastasis to the liver at the time of surgery who died 10 years after operation. After preoperative localization of their tumors, 17 patients were explored anteriorly and 20 underwent resection using a lateral approach. Thirty-one patients have been followed from 2 to 141 (average 56) months. All patients have either returned to a normotensive state on no medication (27 patients) or, while requiring medication (9 patients), have had normal urinary metanephrine/catecholamine levels, except for the one patient with metatastic disease. There were substantial differences in morbidity rates between the two groups, however. Four patients (20%) had minor postoperative complications, following retroperitoneal resection that included pleural effusion, urinary retention, pulmonary congestion, and fever. Nine patients (53%) had complications when the anterior approach was used, including splenectomy in two, pneumonia, and postoperative fever. Postoperative hospital stay averaged 9.8 days (range, 4 to 21 days) for the anterior group and 6.1 days (range, 4 to 12 days) when a lateral approach was used (p = 0.002). Our data suggest that, with accurate unilateral localization, the flank, retroperitoneal approach for resection of pheochromocytoma can be used successfully with less morbidity.