The Effect of Retroperitoneal Fat Mass on Surgical Outcomes in Patients Performing Laparoscopic Adrenalectomy: The Effect of Fat Tissue in Adrenalectomy

Background: Obesity and visceral fat are thought to be the most important factors influencing the technical difficulty during open and laparoscopic surgery. The authors aimed to investigate the effect of retroperitoneal fat mass on surgical outcomes in patients undergoing laparoscopic adrenalectomy. Patients and methods: This prospective study included 51 consecutive patients who underwent lateral transabdominal laparoscopic adrenalectomy. Body mass index (BMI) and retroperitoneal fat area (RFA)/adrenal mass area (AMA) ratio were calculated. Results: There was a positive correlation between BMI and operating time and postoperative complications and hospital stay. According to 2-way analysis of variance, only RFA/AMA ratio (P = .0001) was found to significantly correlate with operating time, whereas BMI did not significantly correlate with operating time (P = .51). In patients with high BMI, high RFA indicated longer operating time and higher complication rate, whereas low RFA was associated with significantly shorter operating time and decreased risk of complications. Conclusion: Retroperitoneal fat mass is a more useful parameter than BMI for predicting the surgical outcomes of laparoscopic adrenalectomy.