This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (14)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Endocrine Surgery  • Blood/ Coagulation  • Alert me on articles by topic

Andreas Kiriakopoulos, MD; Tsakayannis Dimitrios, MD; Linos Dimitrios, MD

Arch Surg. 2004;139:997-1000.

Hypothesis  New hemostatic methods have been widely used in open and laparoscopic surgery. The LigaSure Precise diathermy system (Valleylab, Boulder, Colo) has been recently used in thyroid surgery. We hypothesized that its use could lead to reduced operative time and fewer complications compared with conventional knot tying in total or near-total thyroidectomy.

Design  Prospective case-controlled study.

Setting  Tertiary care private hospital.

Patients  Eighty patients underwent total or near-total thyroidectomy by 1 surgeon.

Interventions  Forty patients underwent thyroidectomy with the conventional knot tying technique and 40 patients with the LigaSure diathermy system.

Main Outcome Measures  Demographics, histopathological diagnosis, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, complications, and cost, using ² test and Wilcoxon rank sum test.

Results  The study groups had similar demographic and histopathological characteristics. The mean ± SD operative time was nonsignificantly reduced in the LigaSure group compared with the conventional knot tying group (84 ± 6 vs 89 ± 7 minutes, P = .60). The mean ± SD intraoperative blood loss was less for the LigaSure group (30 ± 5 vs 35 ± 8 mL, P = .36). There was 1 case of transient recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy in the LigaSure group. One patient from this group and 2 patients from the other group exhibited transient hypocalcemia; permanent postoperative hypocalcemia was not encountered in either group. The cost of the LigaSure diathermy system was significantly greater than that of conventional knot tying.

Conclusion  Use of the LigaSure in thyroid surgery did not significantly reduce operative time, blood loss, or complication rates compared with conventional knot tying, but it increased operative cost.

From the Department of Surgery, Hygeia Hospital, Athens, Greece.

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

LigaSure vs Clamp-and-Tie Technique to Achieve Hemostasis in Total Thyroidectomy for Benign Multinodular Goiter: A Prospective Randomized Study
Saint Marc et al.
Arch Surg 2007;142:150-156.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT