ABSTRACT
References 155
1. INTRODUCTION
Laparoscopic adrenalectomy has been adopted as the standard of care in adults and is
becoming a standard of care in children. It was first described by Gagner in 1992 (1).
Since then, there have been several comparisons between open and laparoscopic adrena-
lectomy in adults (2-16). These studies are all retrospective or case-control studies.
There are no prospective randomized studies. Despite this limitation, they show that
patients undergoing laparoscopic adrenalectomy benefit from decreased hospital stay,
less pain, less morbidity, faster return to activities, and decreased overall costs. Currently,
there are not many studies in children; although two of the earlier studies include a few
pediatric patients (2,16). The studies in children (17-20) show similar results to those
of the adults.
