In the summer of 1996, Prof. Georg Bartsch, Chairman of the Department of Urology of the University of Innsbruck, Austria, introduced me to Prof. G nter Janetschek, a urologist in his department at Innsbruck.
Laparoscopic surgery avoids the incision required for open surgery.
Instead, a video endoscope3 is introduced into the abdomen through a 10 mm. For the patient this minimally invasive technique has several advantages, namely minimal postoperative pain, few postoperative adhesions, minimized blood loss, low risk of surgical complications, short hospital stay, and early return to normal activities. Furthermore, several studies have shown that in experienced hands the complication rate of laparoscopy is also very low. Laparoscopic surgery on the adrenal gland is a highly specific procedure which requires not only mastery of laparoscopic surgery in general but also broad experience with open adrenalectomy. Surgery for pheochromocytoma carries the risk of a life-threatening elevation of blood pressure during the operation, which, however, can be prevented by gentle handling of the adrenal tissue and by tying off the adrenal vein early in the procedure.