Using Ligasure™ or Harmonic Ace® in Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomies? A Prospective Randomized Study.

Background: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is one of the most recent advances of surgery for treating morbid obesity. Many laparoscopic devices have evolved to provide vascular control and tissue dissection.

Methods: This is a prospective randomized study comparing the intraoperative and postoperative complications and operative time of two groups of patients who underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. In the first group after randomization, sleeve gastrectomy was performed using Ligasure™ and in the second group Harmonic Ace® was used.

Results: In total, 94 patients were enrolled in the study allocated in two groups. In group 1, 43 patients were operated using Ligasure™, and in group 2, 51 patients were operated using Harmonic Ace®. No significant differences were highlighted between these two groups with regards to operative time (45.0 ± 15.0 vs 40.0 ± 20.0 min, p = 0.199), intraoperative complications (32.6 vs 15.7 %, p = 0.054) and postoperative complications (4.7 vs 17.6 %, p = 0.051).

Conclusions: Both Ligasure™ and Harmonic Ace® provide surgeons ergonomy, and no significant differences were shown in operative time and complications. Safety and efficacy in such demanding operations is of critical importance. Choice between these two shears lies with surgeon's preference.