A case report of the use of laparoscopic surgery to remove an adrenal tumor following resection of sigmoid colon cancer

A 58-year-old woman underwent sigmoidectomy and partial cystectomy for sigmoid colon cancer following colostomy. The final staging of the tumor was T3, N1, tub2, M0, fStage IIIa. She received 6 courses of CapeOX (oxaliplatin 130mg/m², capecitabine 200mg/m²) as adjuvant chemotherapy, which was discontinued because of severe general fatigue. At the same time, an increase in the levels of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was detected and abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed an expanded adrenal mass. Since whole-body ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) showed no evidence of multiple organ metastases except for the right adrenal tumor, a solitary adrenal metastasis from sigmoid colon cancer was strongly suspected. Hence, colostomy closure and laparoscopic adrenalectomy were concurrently performed. Histological examination revealed non-functional adrenal adenoma. Therefore, laparoscopic surgery was a reasonable choice even in this complex case.