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European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology (EJGO) is published by IMR Press from Volume 40 Issue 1 (2019). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Original Research
Therapeutic effect of harmonic scalpel versus electrocautery in axillary dissection of breast cancer
T. Wu1, †, W. Dong1, †, P. Xu2, †, L. Yang1, T.L. Hong-ShaLieEr1, B. Wang1, Q. Zhao1, W. Xu1, L. Zhu1, *, J. Zhang2
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1
Department of Breast Surgery, Tumor Hospital, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, China
2
The Key Laboratory of Xinjiang Endemic and Ethnic Disease of Shihezi University, Shihezi, Xinjiang, China
† Contributed equally.
Eur. J. Gynaecol. Oncol. 2018, 39(1), 37–40;
https://doi.org/10.12892/ejgo3630.2018
Published: 10 February 2018
Abstract
Purpose: Harmonic scalpel (HS) recently turned into an burgeoning tool for dissection and haemostasis in axillary dissection (AD) of breast cancer (BC). Therefore, the authors aimed to evaluate the utility and advantages of HS compared with electrocautery (EC) to perform AD. Materials and Methods: A retrospective case-control study was designed to present the therapeutic effect of HS and EC, respectively. The intraoperative blood loss and operating time, as well as postoperative drainage volume, drainage days, pain, and complications of 23 breast cancer patients who underwent AD using the HS were compared with 23 matched patients who operated with EC by the same surgical team. Results: There was no significant difference in the operating time between the HS and EC groups (p > 0.05). However, the blood loss, axillary total drainage volume, and the chest wall total drainage volume were significantly lower in HS than those in the EC group (p < 0.001). In addition, compared with EC group, a significant reduction of draining days was observed in HS group (p < 0.05). Moreover, pain assessment showed only two stabbing pain in the control group (8.6%) and one burning pain in the case group (4%). Also, no postoperative complications such as wound infections and chest wall seroma formation were found. Conclusions: The usage of HS showed a significant reduction in the blood loss, drainage volume, and duration of drainage compared to electrocautery in AD of BC.
Keywords
Harmonic scalpel
Electrocautery
Axillary dissection
Breast cancer