Abstract
A 72-year-old woman was referred to our hospital with the complaints of right upper quadrant pain and dyspnea on effort. She was diagnosed as having a solitary liver cyst measuring 14 cm in diameter and treated by laparoscopic deroofing of the cyst. The vessel sealing system LigaSure blunt-tip 5 mm (Ligasure) was used for this operation, because we had experienced bile leakage from the laparoscopic fenestration carried out using an ultrasonically activated scalpel in a previous case. Owing to the slim shaft, good grasp, and long processing stroke of this device, the surgery could be carried out uneventfully. Histopathology showed no evidence of luminal structure sealing, but showed that the denatured tissue at the resection stump sealed by Ligasure was of higher density and showed a wider extent of sealing as compared to that in the previous case in which an ultrasonically activated scalpel had been used and bile leakage had occurred. Hence, Ligasure is thought to be a useful device for secure coagulation and dissection in laparoscopic deroofing of liver cysts.
