A Clinical Trial of the Vessel Sealing System (LigaSure) in Azygoportal Disconnection and Splenectomy in Patients With Portal Hypertension

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The aim of this trial was to verify the efficiency of a new surgical device (the LigaSure vessels sealing system) in esophagogastric decongestion and splenectomy in patients with portal hypertension.

Detailed Description
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Bleeding from esophageal and gastric cardia varices is the major life threatening complication in patients with portal hypertension. Patients with portal hypertension have a mortality rate of 30%-50% at the first episode of esophagogastric variceal rupture. The associated 1-year mortality rate is reported to be 75%. The ideal treatment for gastric varices should effectively control bleeding and improve the liver function to optimum levels. Although endoscopic treatments have showed great promise for esophageal varices, there is still controversy regarding the treatment of gastric varices. Hepatic encephalopathy remain a dominant problems after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt placement (TIPS) and surgical shunts. A meta-analysis has shown that the incidence of hepatic encephalopathy and mortality was increased significantly either in nonselective or selective shunt operations. Esophagogastric decongestion and splenectomy with or without esophageal transaction were the fundamental operation performed in our department for patients with portal hypertension. Patients under the azygoportal devascularization methods revealed reduction of the encephalopathy as well as diminished rebleeding rates. The crucial point of the procedure is prevention of the brisk bleeding from the dilated vessels like enlarged azygoportal collaterals. Conventional hand-tied ligatures can become dislodged and represent a foreign body, and more important, it is tedious and time-consuming. The LigaSure vessel sealing system (Valleylab, Boulder, Colorado) is a bipolar electrosurgical device, sealing vessels up to 7 mm in diameter, by denaturing collagen and elastin within vessel wall and surrounding connective tissue. This device was tested, with excellent results, in different fields of surgery (gastrointestinal, hepatopancreatobiliary, urologic, gynecologic, laparoscopic, etc), as demonstrated by several recently published studies. Shamiyeh et al confirmed the reliability of LigaSure for the closure of the veins in laparoscopic azygoportal disconnection procedure on the portal hypertension porcine model in 2005, there was no intra- or post-operative bleeding and no conversion to open surgery, and when more than 2 mm far from the thermal energy source, no collateral damage of the solid tissue such as stomach could be detected.

Conditions
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Liver Cirrhosis

Intervention / Treatment
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* Device: Vessel sealing system LigaSure


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Patients with liver cirrhosis accompanied by portal hypertension and secondary hypersplenism due to hepatitis, alcoholic cirrhosis or schistosomiasis, who undergoing elective azygoportal disconnection and splenectomy Exclusion Criteria: Liver function as Child-Pugh C Hemoglobin < 9 g/dL Ascites Abnormal coagulation

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 65 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Vessel sealing system LigaSure (VS group)<br>Patients in VS group undergoing esophagogastric decongestion (Azygoportal Disconnection) and splenectomy with or without esophageal transaction with the vessel sealing system LigaSure. | Device: Vessel sealing system LigaSure<br>* Patients in VS group undergoing esophagogastric decongestion (Azygoportal Disconnection) and splenectomy with or without esophageal transaction with the vessel sealing system LigaSure.<br>|
| No Intervention: Conventional hand-tied method (CH group)<br>Patients in CH group undergoing esophagogastric decongestion (Azygoportal Disconnection) and splenectomy with or without esophageal transaction with the conventional hand-tied method. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Operating time, from the skin incision to the final skin closure. Intraoperative blood loss, calculated by a graduated suction device and by amounts of blood involved into the sponges by the end of the operation. |  | Within the operation | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Postoperative drainage volume, complications (spleen fever, bleeding and portal vein thrombosis), length of incision, postoperative pain and time to discharge. |  | within the first 30 days after surgery | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Ligasure vessel sealing system, Azygoportal Disconnection, Splenectomy, Portal hypertension