Pediatric robot-assisted laparoscopic radical adrenalectomy and lymph-node dissection for neuroblastoma in a 15-month-old

Abstract

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extra-cranial solid tumor in children and the most common malignancy in infants, with complete resection being curative in low-stage disease. The previous standard of treatment for many abdominal NBs involving the adrenal gland had been open surgery; however, there have been numerous descriptions of the safety and feasibility of a laparoscopic approach to resect adrenal masses in the pediatric population in benign and malignant disease, including improved cosmetic results, decreased length of stay, decreased surgical morbidity, and comparable oncological outcomes to open surgery. Despite these reported advantages over open surgery, the newer robot-assisted laparoscopy (RAL) offers benefits over the conventional laparoscopic approach that could further improve outcomes and expand the use of minimally invasive surgical approaches for pediatric adrenal masses. RAL offers many additional advantages over conventional laparoscopy, such as 3D visualization, increased range of motion of surgical instruments, tremor control, and a shorter learning curve compared with traditional laparoscopic surgery, while still maintaining the advantages of minimally invasive surgery. The body of literature concerning robot-assisted oncological surgery involving the adrenal gland in children is quite small, and to our knowledge no case reports have been published describing robot-assisted removal of an adrenal NB in a pediatric patient. We present our experience and technique of an RAL approach for lymph-node dissection and radical resection of a low-stage NB involving the adrenal gland with no image-defined risk factors in a 15-month-old infant.