Surgical Quality, Antihypertensive Therapy, and Electrolyte Balance: A Novel Trifecta to Assess Long-Term Outcomes of Adrenal Surgery for Unilateral Primary Aldosteronism

GAPPA: Enhancing prognosis prediction in primary aldosteronism post-adrenalectomy using graph-based modeling

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Predicting postoperative prognosis is vital for clinical decision making in patients undergoing adrenalectomy (ADX). This study introduced GAPPA, a novel GNN-based approach, to predict post-ADX outcomes in patients with unilateral primary aldosteronism (UPA). The objective was to leverage the intricate dependencies between clinico-biochemical features and clinical outcomes using GNNs integrated into a bipartite graph structure to enhance prognostic prediction accuracy.

METHODS

We conceptualized prognostic prediction as a link prediction task on a bipartite graph, with nodes representing patients, clinico-biochemical features, and clinical outcomes, and edges denoting the connections between them. GAPPA utilizes GNNs to capture these dependencies and seamlessly integrates the outcome predictions into a graph structure. This approach was evaluated using a dataset of 640 patients with UPA who underwent unilateral ADX (uADX) between 1990 and 2022. We conducted a comparative analysis using repeated stratified five-fold cross-validation and paired t-tests to evaluate the performance of GAPPA against conventional machine learning methods and previous studies across various metrics.

RESULTS

GAPPA significantly outperformed conventional machine learning methods and previous studies (p < 0.05) across various metrics. It achieved F1-score, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 71.3 % ± 3.1 %, 71.1 % ± 3.4 %, 69.9 % ± 4.3 %, and 72.4 % ± 7.2 %, respectively, with an AUC of 0.775 ± 0.030. We also investigated the impact of different initialization schemes on GAPPA outcome-edge embeddings, highlighting their robustness and stability.

CONCLUSION

GAPPA aids in preoperative prognosis assessment and facilitates patient counseling, contributing to prognostic prediction and advancing the applications of GNNs in the biomedical domain.

Modified versus three-level technique of retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy for all patients with adrenal lesions ≤ 6cm: a retrospective, case-controlled study

Objectives

The modified three-level technique for retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy (RLA) has proven beneficial in the treatment of adrenal lesions in patients with BMI≥25 Kg/m2. This paper aims to summarize our institution's seven-year experience using this technique for all patients with Adrenal Lesions ≤ 6cm.

Patients and methods

Between January 2016 and December 2022. The patients underwent laparoscopic adrenal surgery were categorized into Zhang's technique (ZT) (Three-level Technique) group and modified technique (MT) group. The fundamental characteristics and perioperative data were analyzed, with statistical significance set at p<0.05.

Results

In total, 731 patients were stratified into two groups: ZT (n=448) and MT (n=283). Statistically significant distinctions were not detected between the two groups regarding sex, BMI, tumor location, tumor size, tumor type, or American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score (p>0.05). The MT group demonstrated superior outcomes compared to the ZT group in terms of operative time, estimated blood loss, drainage volume, diet recovery time, complication rates, and postoperative hospitalization duration (p<0.05). 17 (4.34%) in the ZT group required unplanned adrenalectomy, while there was none in MT group (P<0.05).

Conclusion

MT retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy has demonstrated its benefits in the treatment of adrenal lesions across all patients with adrenal lesions ≤ 6cm, serving as a valuable point of reference for the surgical management of adrenal diseases.

Patient summary

We have made modifications to the classic retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy and achieved superior surgical outcomes, resulting in a procedure known as modified retroperitoneal laparoscopic adrenalectomy. This technique is suitable for both obese individuals and the general population with adrenal lesions ≤ 6cm.

The Therapeutic Intensity Score as Predictor of Clinical Outcomes after Total and Partial Adrenalectomy for Unilateral Primary Aldosteronism: Results of a Multicentric Series

BACKGROUND

To evaluate the ability of therapeutic intensity score (TIS) in predicting the clinical outcomes of partial (PA) and total adrenalectomy (TA) for UPA.

METHODS

Between 2011 and 2022, a four-center adrenalectomy dataset was queried for "unilateral adrenal mass" and "UPA" (n = 90). Preoperative TIS of each antihypertensive medication were individually calculated and merged to create a single, cumulative variable. Probability of complete clinical, partial, and absent pooled success rates according to TIS were assessed for the overall cohort by Kaplan-Meier. Cox analyses were used to identify predictors of complete clinical and partial/absent success, respectively. For all analyses, a two-sided p < 0.05 was considered significant.

RESULTS

At a median follow-up of 42 months (IQR 27-54) complete partial, and absent clinical success were observed in 60%, 17.7%, and 22.3%, respectively. On Kaplan-Meier analysis, TIS < 1 predicted higher complete success rates (p < 0.001), while TIS ≥ 1 was predictor of either partial and absent clinical success (p = 0.008). On multivariable analysis, TIS < 1 (HR 0.25; 95% CI 0.11-0.57; p = 0.001) and adenoma size (HR 1.11; 95% CI 1-1.23; p = 0.0049) were independent predictors of complete clinical success, while TIS ≥ 1 (HR 2.84; 95% CI 1.32-6.1; p = 0.007) was the only independent predictor of absent clinical success.

CONCLUSIONS

TIS score and adenoma size may help to identify patients who are likely to be at risk of persistent hypertension after surgery.

Feasibility, safety and effectiveness of robot-assisted retroperitoneal partial adrenalectomy with a new robotic surgical system: A prospective clinical study

Objectives

To evaluate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of the newly developed KD-SR-01® robotic system for retroperitoneal partial adrenalectomy.

Subjects and Methods

We prospectively enrolled patients with benign adrenal mass undergoing KD-SR-01® robot-assisted partial adrenalectomy in our institution from November 2020 to May 2022. Surgeries were performed via a retroperitoneal approach using the KD-SR-01® robotic system. The baseline, perioperative and short-term follow-up data were prospectively collected. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed.

Results

A total of 23 patients were enrolled, including nine (39.1%) patients with hormone-active tumors. All patients received partial adrenalectomy via the retroperitoneal approach without conversions to other procedures. The median operative time was 86.5 min [interquartile range (IQR), 60.0-112.5] and the median estimated blood loss was 50 ml (range, 20-400). Three (13.0%) patients developed Clavien-Dindo grade I-II postoperative complications. The median postoperative stay was 4.0 days (IQR, 3.0-5.0). All surgical margins were negative. The short-term follow-up demonstrated complete or partial clinical and biochemical success as well as absence of imaging recurrence in all patients with hormone-active tumors.

Conclusions

Initial results illustrate that the KD-SR-01® robotic system is safe, feasible and effective for the surgical management of benign adrenal tumors.

Clinical cure vs a novel trifecta system for evaluating long-term outcomes of minimally-invasive partial or total adrenalectomy for unilateral primary aldosteronism: results of a multicentric series

Introduction

Several predictive scores to evaluate outcomes of adrenal surgery for unilateral primary aldosteronism (UPA), have been conceived. We compared a novel trifecta that summarizes outcomes of adrenal surgery for UPA with the clinical cure proposed by Vorselaars.

Material and methods

Between March 2011 and January 2022, a multi-institutional dataset was queried for UPA. Baseline, perioperative and functional data were collected. Clinical and biochemical complete and partial success rates according to Primary Aldosteronism Surgical Outcome (PASO) criteria were assessed for the overall cohort. Clinical cure was defined either as normotension without antihypertensive medications or normotension with lower or equal use of antihypertensive medications. Trifecta was defined as the coexistence of ≥50% antihypertensive therapeutic intensity score (TIS) reduction (ΔTIS), no electrolyte impairment at 3-months and no Clavien-Dindo (2-5) complications. Cox regression analyses were used to identify predictors of long-term clinical and biochemical success. For all analyses, a two-sided p <0.05 was considered significant.

Results

Baseline, perioperative and functional outcomes were analyzed. Out of 90 patients, at a median follow-up of 42 months (IQR 27-54) a complete and partial clinical success was observed in 60% and 17.7% of cases while a complete and partial biochemical success was achieved in 83.3% and 12.3% of cases, respectively. Overall trifecta and clinical cure rates were 21.1% and 58.9%, respectively. On multivariable Cox regression analysis, trifecta achievement (HR 2.87; 95% CI 1.45-5.58; p = 0.02) was the only independent predictor of complete clinical success at long-term follow-up.

Conclusions

Despite its complex estimation and more restrictive criteria, trifecta but not clinical cure allows to independently predict composite PASO endpoints on the long run.

Aldosterone Suppresses Endothelial Mitochondria through Mineralocorticoid Receptor/Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species Pathway

Excessive aldosterone secretion causes endothelial dysfunction, vascular inflammation, and vascular fibrosis in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA). Endothelial function is closely related to endothelial mitochondria. However, the effects of elevated aldosterone levels on endothelial mitochondria remain unclear. In this study, we used primary cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to investigate the effects of aldosterone on endothelial mitochondria. Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) small interfering (si)RNA or glucocorticoid receptor (GR) siRNA were used to confirm the pathway by which aldosterone exerts its effects on the mitochondria of HUVECs. The results showed that excess aldosterone suppressed mitochondrial DNA copy numbers, anti-mitochondrial protein, and SOD2 protein expression in a dose- and time-dependent manner. These effects were attenuated by treatment with MR siRNA, but not with GR siRNA. Furthermore, it was attenuated by treatment with a mitochondria-targeted antioxidant (Mito-TEMPO, associated with mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) production), but not N-acetyl-L-cysteine (associated with cytosolic ROS production), which suggests that the process was through the mitochondrial ROS pathway, but not the cytosolic ROS pathway. In conclusion, aldosterone excess suppressed endothelial mitochondria through the MR/mitochondrial ROS pathway.