title: Laparoscopic telementored adrenalectomy: the Italian experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Laparoscopy is widely accepted as the gold standard for adrenalectomy. Telementoring has been developed to reduce the complications associated with surgeon inexperience. We report our preliminary experience with laparoscopic telementored adrenalectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  From July 2002 to May 2003, eight laparoscopic telementored adrenalectomies were performed between two separate operating sites 430 km apart. Six of these procedures were monolateral laparoscopic adrenalectomies, and one was bilateral. All cases were performed by an expert open surgeon who was skilled in laparoscopic procedure but who had no experience in laparascopic adrenalectomy
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the procedures were successfully performed in a telementored fashion. The mean operative times, blood loss, and postoperative morbidity results were comparable to those for standard laparoscopic adrenalectomies reported in the literature.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This preliminary experience has demonstrated the feasibility of national telementoring. It is a viable method that can potentially add to surgical education and decrease the likelihood of complications due to inexperience with new techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University of Modena & Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy. morgan.bruschi@inwind.it
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bruschi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Micali
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Porpiglia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Celia
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Stefani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grande
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Scarpa
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bianchi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000315:Adrenalectomy / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017216:Telemedicine