title: LigaSure™ vs. conventional dissection techniques in pancreatic surgery--a prospective randomised single-centre trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Surgical procedures in pancreatic surgery are well established, but still involve time-consuming manual dissection. We compared the use of LigaSure with conventional dissection techniques in pancreatic surgery in a prospective randomised single-centre trial (registration number: NCT00850291).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with tumours of the pancreatic head that were assumed to be technically resectable were randomised to LigaSure or conventional surgery. The primary endpoint of this study was overall operation time. Secondary endpoints were preparation time until tumour resection, intraoperative blood loss, number of given units of packed red blood cells, costs of surgery, postoperative morbidity, length of hospital stay and mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no difference in overall operation time between the two groups (P = 0.227). Median costs for pancreatic surgery were significantly less in the conventional group with €3,047 (range 2,004-5,543) vs. €3,527 (range 2,516-5,056, P = 0.009). Preparation time, intraoperative blood loss, number of units of packed red blood cells, postoperative morbidity, length of hospital stay and mortality did not differ between the two groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data indicate that the LigaSure device is equivalent to conventional dissection modalities in pancreatic surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of General, Visceral and Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße, 52 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Faik Guentac
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Uzunoglu
authors.forename: Maximilian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bockhorn
authors.forename: Judith Alexandra
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reeh
authors.forename: Eik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vettorazzi
authors.forename: Karim Abdel
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Gawad
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bogoevski
authors.forename: Yogesh Kumar
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Vashist
authors.forename: Tung Yu
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Tsui
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Koenig
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: Jakob Robert
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Izbicki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016063:Blood Loss, Surgical; D004210:Dissection / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061646:Operative Time; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D011300:Preoperative Care; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome