A prospective randomised trial of LigaSure Small Jaw® versus conventional neck dissection in head and neck cancer patients.

Lin, W-J; Wang, C-C; Jiang, R-S; Huang, Y-C; Ho, H-C; Liu, S-A

OBJECTIVES We compared the differences between LigaSure Small Jaw®-assisted and conventional neck dissection in patients with head and neck cancer. DESIGN Prospective randomised study. SETTING Tertiary referral hospital. PARTICIPANTS Patients scheduled to undergo neck dissection due to head and neck cancer were eligible for this study. The study group was treated using the LigaSure vessel sealing system (Small Jaw®; Covidien, Colorado, USA) for dissection and hemostasis throughout the whole procedures (ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT02597582). MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES Operation duration, perioperative blood loss, postoperative drainage amount and postoperative pain status. RESULTS The study group consisted of 21 patients, while the control group had 20 patients. The operation duration was shorter (97.1 versus 116.3 min, P = 0.022) and the average amount of injected analgesics was lower (8.8 versus 17.7 ampules, P = 0.037) in the study group. CONCLUSIONS The assistance of the LigaSure Small Jaw® during functional neck dissection shortened the operation duration and decreased the amount of injected analgesics needed.