Harmonic Scalpel Compared to Conventional Hemostasis in Thyroid Surgery: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

Table 1

Characteristics of included studies.

						Mean OR
Author	Year	Country	Industry	CH	#	Time (min) for	Transient	Permanent	Transient	Permanent	Postoperative
			funding	techniques	patients	TT/ST (SD)	RLND	RLND	hypocalcemia	hypocalcemia	hematoma
Hallgrimsson [11]	2008	Sweden	No	Electrocautery	CH = 24	CH = 168.8 (4.8)	CH = 1	CH = 0	CH = 7	CH = 1	CH = 0
				ligatures clips	HS = 27	HS = 134.7 (5.6)	HS = 4	HS = 0	HS = 5	HS = 0	HS = 0
Lombardi [5]	2008	Italy	No	Electrocautery	CH = 100	CH = 75.2 (23.5)	CH = 1	CH = 0	CH = 29	CH = 0	CH = 1
				ligatures	HS = 100	HS = 53.1 (20.7)	HS = 2	HS = 0	HS = 28	HS = 0	HS = 1
Yildirim [13]	2008	Turkey	No	Electrocautery	CH = 54	CH = 105 (16)	CH = 5	CH = 1	CH = 7	CH = 1	CH = 0
				ligatures	HS = 50	HS = 77.9 (12.5)	HS = 1	HS = 0	HS = 6	HS = 1	HS = 0
Kilic [6]	2007	Turkey	No	Electrocautery	CH = 40	CH = 57.8 (12)	CH = 0	CH = 0	CH = 5	CH = 0	CH = 0
				ligatures	HS = 40	HS = 47.1 (8.2)	HS = 1	HS = 0	HS = 2	HS = 0	HS = 0
Miccoli [12]	2006	Italy	Yes	Electrocautery	CH = 50	CH = 46.7 (10.8)	CH = 0	CH = 0	CH = 16	CH = 0	CH = 0
				ligatures	HS = 50	HS = 40 (6.8)	HS = 0	HS = 0	HS = 5	HS = 0	HS = 0
Frazzetta [8]	2005	Italy	No	Electrocautery	CH = 60	CH = 96 (17)	CH = 2	CH = 0	CH = 6	CH = 0	CH = 0
				ligatures	HS = 60	HS = 56 (18)	HS = 1	HS = 0	HS = 4	HS = 0	HS = 0
Cordon [9]	2005	Mexico	Yes	Electrocautery	CH = 12	CH = 136 (37)	CH = 0	CH=0	CH=9	CH=0	CH = 0
				ligatures clips	HS = 7	HS = 104 (29)	HS = 1	HS = 0	HS = 3	HS = 0	HS = 0
Ortega [7]	2004	Spain	No	Ligatures	CH = 57	CH = 101 (16)	CH = 1	CH = 0	CH = 6	CH = 0	CH = 2
					HS = 57	HS = 86 (20)	HS = 2	HS = 0	HS = 5	HS = 0	HS = 0
Defechereux [10]	2003	Belgium	No	Electrocautery	CH = 17	CH = 96.5 (28.9)	CH = 0	CH = 0	CH = 4	CH = 0	CH = 0
				Ligatures clips	HS=17	HS = 70.7 (18.3)	HS=0	HS=0	HS=1	HS=0	HS=0
TOTAL					CH = 414		CH = 10	CH = 1	CH = 89	CH = 2	CH = 3
					HS = 408		HS = 12	HS = 0	HS = 59	HS = 1	HS = 1

CH: conventional hemostasis; OR: operative; HS: harmonic scalpel; TT: total thyroidectomy; ST: subtotal thyroidectomy; SD: standard deviation; RLND: recurrent laryngeal nerve dysfunction.