Our expertly trained staff at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital care only about your well-being. No matter what type of surgery you need, be it a major or minor procedure, we are ready to help you.
If you have health problems and you need adrenalectomy, we are armed with the newest medical technology to make the procedure less invasive, shorten the recovery time and also maintain the best quality.
The adrenal glands are two organs above the kidneys. They are part of the endocrine system and their role is to secrete various important hormones, such as adrenaline, cortisol, and aldosterone. If your glands produce an abnormal amount of hormones, that might be a sign of a tumor. If this is the case, one or both organs will have to be removed.
There are two types of procedures: laparoscopic adrenalectomy and open adrenalectomy. The most common is the first one because it is less invasive. With this said, if complications arise or the tumor is too big to be extracted, open adrenalectomy will be performed.
The patient is put under general anesthesia. The surgeon makes a small incision in the abdomen and near the belly button.
The abdominal cavity will be filled with gas and then a very small camera will be inserted.
Because of the gas, the image will be clearer and the doctor will be able to see the organs better.
Using special instruments, the surgeon will remove the adrenal glands and cauterize the blood vessels.
The procedure is over after this and the incisions and stitched together.
If the tumor is too big or if complications appear, open adrenalectomy might have to be performed.
Then, larger incisions will be made on the patient’s sides and the glands will be removed.
This type of surgery presents these benefits:
- It stops the extra secretions of the hormones
- Short recovery time
- Minimal scarring
- It greatly decreases the chances for cancer to spread to other organs
This type of surgery is a simple one, so the average recovery time is not long. If it was laparoscopic adrenalectomy, the patient will have to rest in the hospital between 2 and 3 days. If he had open adrenalectomy, the resting period is 4-5 days. Heavy work and lifting should be avoided for about 6 to 8 weeks. People can return to work fairly early, whenever the pain lessens. If only one adrenal gland was removed, then the other one completely takes over. If both of them were taken out, however, the patient will have to take medication to avoid any kind of hormonal imbalance.
There are a number of risks involved with this procedure. If the tumor is big, it can affect other organs and make its removal harder. There are chances that the patient will suffer from an infection or from internal bleeding as blood vessels will be cut. At the incision site, patients may also develop a hernia.