Intra- and postoperative complications using LigaSure™ Small Jaw in patients undergoing thyroidectomy: a register-based study.

Purpose: LigaSure™ Small Jaw (LSJ) reduces operation duration and intraoperative blood loss in patients undergoing thyroidectomy. However, the evidence is sparse regarding postoperative complications and among relevant patients subgroups. In a large cohort of patients including relevant patient subgroups, we evaluated intra- and postoperative complications using LSJ.

Methods: Single-centre register-based study evaluating 3346 patients undergoing hemi- or total thyroidectomy. We compared differences in intra- and postoperative complications using LSJ compared to conventional technique. Multivariate analyses were conducted to adjust for potential confounders.

Results: Compared to the conventional technique, LSJ was associated with less postoperative drainage (OR 0.4, p = 0.02) and postoperative haemorrhage (OR 0.3, p = 0.02) among patients undergoing hemi- and total thyroidectomy with benign histology, respectively, but with increased risk of postoperative infection [3 (6.4%) vs. 0 (0.0%) patients, p = 0.04] among patients undergoing total thyroidectomy with malignant histology. LSJ was associated with reduced operation duration (- 12.2 min, p < 0.001, - 7.9 min, p < 0.001 and - 13.2 min, p = 0.002) and intraoperative blood loss (- 52.1 ml, p < 0.001, - 13.6 ml, p < 0.001 and - 12.9 ml, p = 0.02) compared to conventional technique among patients undergoing total and hemithyroidectomy with benign histology and hemithyroidectomy with malignant histology, respectively.

Conclusion: LSJ was associated with a reduced risk of postoperative haemorrhage and less postoperative drainage but increased risk of postoperative infection depending on the type of thyroidectomy and histology of the thyroid gland. LSJ was associated with only a small reduction in operation duration and intraoperative blood loss.

Trial Registration: The study was based on data prospectively registered in the Danish national database THYKIR.