부신양성 평활근종의 복강경 절제 1예

Laparoscopic Resection of Benign Leiomyoma Arising from the Adrenal Gland

This report describes a case of a 55-year-old woman with an incidental leiomyoma arising from her left adrenal gland. Leiomyoma may occur in any part of the body where smooth muscular layers exist; however, the uterus and gastrointestinal tract are the most commonly affected sites. Adrenal leiomyomas are however rarely found in routine clinical examinations or during postmortem examinations. In addition, most leiomyomas are extremely rare, asymptomatic, nonfunctioning adrenal tumors, which are discovered fortuitously during computed tomography scanning (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A laparoscopic operation has been performed in numerous adrenal surgeries; however, laparoscopic resections of adrenal benign leiomyomas are not often reported. We diagnosed a case of a nonfunctional adrenal tumor which was histologically confirmed as a benign leiomyoma. We successfully resected the adrenal tumor using a laparoscopic approach. Moreover, we report this case along with a review of the recent literature. (Korean J Endocrine Surg 2007;7:42-45)