Ultrasonically activated scalpel is an effective tool for cutting the pancreas in biliary-pancreatic surgery: experimental and clinical studies.

The ultrasonically activated scalpel, a new tool for cutting and coagulating tissue, uses high-frequency ultrasonic vibrations, and has been widely employed in the field of laparoscopic surgery. We evaluated its usefulness for cutting the pancreas in biliary-pancreatic surgery. We planned experimental and clinical studies using an ultrasonically activated scalpel (harmonic scalpel) for cutting the pancreas. The harmonic scalpel was set up at a power level of 3 (75% of full power) in the knife mode. In the experimental study, using dogs, cutting of the pancreas with the harmonic scalpel resulted in significantly less bleeding and significantly less histological tissue damage to the cut stumps than cutting of the pancreas with an electric or a regular scalpel. In the clinical study: (1) the hemostatic effect of the harmonic scalpel was excellent or good in any condition of the pancreas; (2) of 50 stumps of the main pancreatic duct cut with the harmonic scalpel, the stump was easily found in 48 (96%), while ultrasonography was necessary to find the remaining 2 stumps in soft pancreas; (3) in 41 anastomoses (29 soft and 12 hard pancreas) there were no postoperative pancreatic fistulae. These results indicate that the ultrasonically activated scalpel is an effective tool for cutting the pancreas in biliary-pancreatic surgery.