Editing Surgery of the Adrenals (section)

== Partial Adrenalectomy ==

* '''Unilateral adrenalectomy is often well tolerated and should be considered as the gold standard in the treatment of functioning or malignant adrenal tumors.'''
* '''<span style="color:#ff0000">Indications for partial adrenalectomy (3):'''
*# '''<span style="color:#ff0000">Bilateral adrenal tumors'''
*# '''<span style="color:#ff0000">Solitary adrenal gland'''
*# '''<span style="color:#ff0000">Familial syndromes (such as von Hippel-Lindau disease, familial pheochromocytoma, and multiple endocrine neoplasia type IIA)'''
** '''Patients with bilateral adrenalectomy will require lifelong adrenal replacement therapy.'''
*** Fixed daily dosing of steroids is associated with overdosing, which may result in osteoporosis, obesity, and Cushing syndrome, and with underdosing in times of stress. Life-threatening Addisonian crisis can occur.
*** Patients after bilateral adrenalectomy continue to report poorer quality of life as compared to the general population.
* The amount of adrenal tissue that must be left behind after partial adrenalectomy to avoid insufficiency is not known.