Although transabdominal lateral approach has been described robotically, the posterior retroperitoneal adrenalectomy has been done laparoscopically. Despite the recent interest in the posterior technique, there are significant limitations regarding dexterity using conventional instrumentation. We hypothesized that the use of the robot would facilitate this approach by providing better angulation of the instruments with a wider range of motion. This video illustrates the details of our technique which involves establisment of a retroperitoneal space using a balloon dissector. Laparoscopic ultrasound helps with the orientation and the use of the robot enables dissection with an improved dexterity compared to the conventional laparoscopic approach. The video shows the docking and undocking of the robot with external video shots as well, to demonstrate the technique. To our knowledge, this is the first report of robotic posterior adrenalectomy. We believe that the robotic technique will be the procedure of choice in the future for the posterior approach to selected adrenal tumors.
Session: Video Channel
Program Number: V085