[Ultrasonic scalpel in thyroid surgery].
The thyroid gland is highly vascularized and, in all Thyroid surgery, a special attention must be paid to haemos. tasis and coagulation. Any carelessness in the control of thyroid vessels can indeed entail serious consequences. In this respect, the ultrasonic scalpel represents a significant progress. In this paper, the ultrasonic dissector will first be presented. Then a prospective, randomized trial comparing the results obtained with this apparatus to those obtained with the conventional method of hemostasis in a series of 34 patients submitted to total thyroidectomy for multinodular goiter will be summarized. Without increasing the costs, the ultrasonic dissector allows a saving of operative time as well as a reduction of peroperative bleeding and of postoperative use of antalgics. Finally, the results of 1696 total thyroidectomies performed with the use of the ultrasonic dissector will be briefly outlined.
Coimbra
C
C
Service de Chirurgie Abdominale, Sénologique, Endocrine et de Transplantation, CHU Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgique.
Defechereux
T
T
Meurisse
N
N
Squifflet
J P
JP
Meurisse
M
M
D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013965:Thyroidectomy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation*