Laparoscopic surgery

Unilateral adrenal tumours deemed to be benign can be removed safely through a key hole operation.

Open radical adrenalectomy

If the tumour is considered to be malignant (i.e. cancerous) an open radical adrenalectomy is the most effective treatment (see section on adrenocortical cancer).

Bilateral retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy

If both adrenal glands are ‘driven’ by too much ACTH produced from a pituitary tumour or from a neuroendocrine tumour , and if treatment for the source of ACTH is not possible, it is beneficial to remove both adrenal glands.

Our preferred approach in this rare scenario is to do the operation through a posterior approach, with two operating teams working in parallel. Oxford is in a privileged position of having two surgeons able to do this operation so myself and my colleague Mr Shad Khan pioneered this approach in UK (see news).