ArticleCureus2024
Comparison of Intraoperative and Postoperative Outcomes With Skin Flaps Raised Using Either Harmonic Scalpels or Electrocautery During Modified Radical Mastectomy.
Article in Cureus, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBreast cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women. Hence, its treatment has become our utmost priority in developing countries like India. Modified radical mastectomy (MRM) has traditionally been used as the standard of care for early-stage invasive breast carcinoma and still is the most commonly used surgical treatment for carcinoma breast.
aimThe study compared the incidence of intraoperative and postoperative outcomes with skin flaps raised using a harmonic scalpel versus those raised using electrocautery.
methodsSixty women with biopsy-proven breast cancer who had to undergo MRM were randomly assigned to undergo skin flap raising during mastectomy by using electrocautery or harmonic scalpel. Thirty patients had surgery with electrocautery (Group 1) and 30 with a harmonic scalpel (Group 2) by the same surgical team.
resultsThe mean operative time was significantly longer with harmonic scalpel when compared to that with electrocautery (140.67 ± 28.55 vs. 122.00 ± 19.16 mins, P =0.004). The amount of intraoperative blood loss (178.33 ± 21.06 vs 138.50 ± 28.53 mL P = 0.001) was less in the group operated with the harmonic scalpel, which was statistically significant. There was no significant difference between the groups regarding total drainage content (310.83 ± 88.93 vs 298.20 ± 127.87 mL, P = 0.659), drain duration (6.83 ± 0.75 vs 7.43 ± 2.27 days, p=0.174), seroma (3.3% vs. 0%) wound infection (3.3% vs 0%), flap necrosis (16.7% vs. 3.3%, P = 0.195), duration of hospital stays (8.57 ± 0.77 vs 8.43 ± 1.61 days, p=0.684).
conclusionHarmonic scalpels have a few advantages over electrocautery, but are not cost-effective.
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