Ahsan Jamil, Rubab Javed, Sidrah Ashraf, Ijaz Amin, Shumaila Shakoor.
Comparison of harmonic scalpel method with conventional procedure forhospital stayduring thyroidectomy among pakistani patients.
Pak J Med Health Sci Jan ;13(4):1296-3.

Background: In general surgery thyroidectomy is the most common operative procedure. Hospital stay of patients after surgery depends on the method adopted during it. In conventional method, silk sutures are employed. Aim: To compare the hospital stay of Pakistani patients with multi-nodular goiter undergoing thyroidectomy with harmonic scalpel versus Conventional suture method. Study design: It was prospective randomized controlled trial. Methodology: All patients (60) underwent thyroidectomy for Multinodular goiter were distributed into two assemblies, In Group -A, harmonics calpel ligatedall thyroid vessels. In Group-B, inferior middle and superior were tied using silk sutures 3/0, and all other vessels were sutured by 4/0 or electrocauterized. The two groups were compared for post-operative hospital stay. Results: The mean hospital stay of patients in group -A was 2.9±0.8 days and in group-B was 4.2±0.7days with p-value of 0.00002 which is statistically significant. Conclusion : Harmonic scalpel can be employed regularly as significant reduction in hospital stay was seen after thyroidectomy.

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