Lung biopsy using harmonic scalpel: a randomised single institute study.

OBJECTIVE Applicability of harmonic scalpel in lung biopsy was investigated in a randomised single institute study. METHODS Safety of the method, morbidity, drainage duration and in-hospital stays were compared in two randomised groups of patients in which either ultrasonic harmonic scalpel (n:20) or endostapler (n:20) were used for pulmonary biopsies during VATS. RESULTS An advantage of 16min in average operation time was found in favour of the harmonic scalpel (30.75 vs 46.9min) which was significant. There were no differences in average drainage duration (40.2 vs 30.6h) and pleural fluid volume (258 vs 232ml). Minor complication rates (3 vs 3) were identical and in-hospital stays (7.6 vs 7.2 days) were also similar. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the vibration transmission method was shown not to be inferior to the standard endostapling technique. A safe new method offers an alternative technique for peripherial lung biopsy.