Patient-reported satisfaction and cosmesis outcomes following laparoscopic adrenalectomy: laparoendoscopic single-site adrenalectomy vs. conventional laparoscopic adrenalectomy

Introduction: We evaluate patient-reported satisfaction and cosmesis of laparoendoscopic single-site adrenalectomy (LESS-A) in comparison with that of conventional laparoscopic adrenalectomy (CLA).Methods: A total of 19 and 104 patients who respectively underwent LESS-A and CLA between May 1996 and June 2011 were included in the study. Questionnaires inquiring about scar pain (0: not painful, 10: very painful), satisfaction (0: not satisfied, 10:very satisfied) and cosmesis (0: very unsightly, 10: very beautiful) on the basis of a visual analogue scale were sent to patients postoperatively.Results: The respondents consisted of 11 and 54 patients who underwent LESS-A and CLA, respectively. There was no significant inter-group difference in age, sex, affected side or body mass index. No significant differences were observed in operative time or estimated blood loss. There were also no significant differences in pain (0.67 vs. 0.57, p = 0.393), satisfaction (8.92 vs. 8.46, p = 0.453), or cosmesis score (8.58 vs. 8.00, p = 0.487) between the LESS-A and CLA groups overall. In female patients, the satisfaction score was significantly higher in the LESS-A group than in the CLA group (10.0 vs. 8.72, p = 0.049). In young patients (<50 years old), the satisfaction score was also significantly higher in the LESS-A group than in the CLA group (9.17 vs. 6.38, p = 0.036).Conclusions: Young patients and female patients who had received LESS-A adrenal surgery were more satisfied with the scar outcomes than were the young patients and female patients who had received CLA. We suggest that this patient subset most values the cosmetic benefits of LESS-A.