TY - JOUR
TI - Thyroid surgery: comparison between the electrothermal bipolar vessel
sealing system, harmonic scalpel, and classic suture ligation
AU - Manouras, Andreas
AU - Markogiannakis, Haridimos
AU - Koutras, Athanasios
AU - S.
AU - Antonakis, Pantelis T.
AU - Drimousis, Panagioitis and
AU - Lagoudianakis, Emmanuel E.
AU - Kekis, Panagiotis
AU - Genetzakis, Michael
AU - and Koutsoumanis, Konstantinos
AU - Bramis, Ioannis
JO - AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SURGERY
PY - 2008
VL - 195
TODO - 1
SP - 48-52
PB - EXCERPTA MEDICA INC-ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
SN - 0002-9610
TODO - 10.1016/j.amjsurg.2007.01.037
TODO - thyroid surgery; electrothermal bipolar vessel sealing system; harmonic
scalpel; suture ligation technique
TODO - Background: This study was conducted to compare the outcome of total
thyroidectomy using the electrothermal bipolar vessel sealing system,
the harmonic scalpel, and the classic suture ligation technique.
Methods: This was a retrospective study of prospectively collected data
from 382 consecutive total thyroidectomies from September 2004 to August
2006. Patients were divided into 3 groups: group SL patients (n = 90)
underwent total thyroidectomy with the classic suture ligation
technique, group L (n = 148) with the electrothermal bipolar vessel
sealer, and group U (n = 144) with the harmonic scalpel. The main
outcomes measured were surgical and hospitalization time, intraoperative
and postoperative bleeding, postoperative hypocalcemia, and superior and
inferior laryngeal nerves injuries.
Results: The 3 groups were similar in terms of demographics, thyroid
gland weight and pathology, perioperative complications, and hospital
stay. Compared with the classic technique, surgical time was reduced
significantly by about 20% when the bipolar vessel sealer or harmonic
scalpel was used (93.3 +/- 12.5 vs 74.3 +/- 14.2 and 73.8 +/- 13.8 min,
P = .001, and P = .001, respectively).
Conclusions: Both the bipolar vessel sealer and harmonic scalpel are
safe, useful, and time-saving alternatives to the traditional suture
ligation technique for thyroid surgery. Because no differences were
observed regarding these 2 devices, the choice should be made based on
the surgeon’s preferences and experience. (c) 2008 Excerpta Medica Inc.
All rights reserved.
ER -