Randomised clinical trial of longitudinal versus torsional mode ultrasound in laparoscopic cholecystectomy

S.S Ching, Prof M.J. McMahon, LIMIT, Yorkshire, UK

This study has compared two aspects of laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed using LOTUS or the Harmonic Scalpel supplied by Ethicon Endosurgery.
A twenty patient randomised study compared the following aspects of surgery when performed using the two devices:

• Blood Loss
• Sugery Time

It was found that using LOTUS resulted in a range of blood loss from 0 - 178ml with a median value of 7.1ml. This is to be compared with a range of blood loss of 0 - 925ml when the Harmonic Scalpel is used with a Median value of 21.5ml. In addition, LOTUS appeared to reduce the excision time from 7 to 43 (median 19.5 minutes) for the Harmonic Scalpel, to 5 to 41 minutes (median 11 minutes) with LOTUS.

Due largely to the small sample size p>0.05 for the two sets of data respectively. To reduce the p value to the order 0.05 a larger follow up study has been proposed, approved by ethics and research committees and is already underway.