Early and Late Surgical Outcomes after LigaSure and Conventional Diathermy Hemorrhoidectomy: A Comparative Randomized Study

Abstract

Background: Hemorrhoidectomy is a known painful operation associated with a delayed convalescence. Aim: To report the early and late surgical outcomes after LigaSure and conventional diathermy hemorrhoidectomy. Patients and methods: Seventy-Seven patients with grade III and IV hemorrhoids were randomized into two groups; Group (I) treated with LigaSure hemorrhoidectomy and group (II) treated with conventional diathermy hemorrhoidectomy. The operative time, hospital stay, postoperative pain, analgesia, time of wound healing, return to work, postoperative complications and patients’ satisfactions were recorded in each group. Results: The patients treated with LigaSure hemorrhoidectomy had significantly less mean operative time (12.19 versus 35.3 min), postoperative pain score (5.12 versus 6.11), analgesia (11.97 versus 13.8 tablets) and time to return work (10.35 versus 14.94 days) than the patients who underwent conventional diathermy hemorrhoidectomy. Early postoperative complications were significantly less in the LigaSure group (P= 0.001), while late postoperative complications showed non- significant difference between both groups (P >0.05). Patients’ satisfactions were in favor of LigaSure group with significant statistical difference (P= 0.026). Conclusion: LigaSure is a superior alternative to conventional diathermy in doing hemorrhoidectomy due to less post- operative pain and analgesia, fast wound healing, early return to work and lower postoperative complications. Moreover, it is a simple and short time technique easy to learn.