OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to compare the clinical outcomes of colorectal oncology procedures using ultrasonic technology versus conventional electrosurgery.

METHODS: An Ovid Embase/Medline, Scopus and PubMed search was conducted using keywords such as ultrasonic, harmonic, ultracision, scalpel, shears, scissor and dissector in procedures including but not limited to colectomy, colorectal, rectal, colon surgery/ resection / cancer / neoplasms / metastasis / carcinoma / tumor / malignancy. Results were limited to publications of human subject studies in English from January 2007 to February 2018. Studies comparing ultrasonic technology to conventional electrosurgery for colorectal cancer procedures were selected. All abstracts were filtered, including meta-analysis, RCTs, retrospective observational studies. Case studies and review articles were excluded.

RESULTS: Seven studies were identified after the inclusion-exclusion criteria were applied. Studies describing ultrasonic technology demonstrated significant benefits over conventional techniques in colorectal oncology surgery: dissection time for colectomy was up to 34% shorter (90 min vs. 137 min, p<0.001), hospital stays were up to 1.5 days shorter (0.7 days vs. 2.2 days; P < 0.001), and there were up to 67% fewer complications (1.4% vs. 4.2%, p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: There is a growing number of studies evaluating ultrasonic technology for colorectal oncology procedures that show that ultrasonic technology demonstrates significant benefits compared to conventional electrosurgery techniques.