Multiple InLine® Clinical Papers Presented at Combined AHPBA/SAGES/ACS 2005 Congress

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, April 17, 2005

Three clinical papers using the Inline^® bipolar pre-coagulation system were presented last April at the combined 2005 AHPBA/SAGES/ACS meetings in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

A poster presented by Thomas Clancy M.D. and Richard Swanson M.D., of the Department of Surgery at The Brigham & Women’s Hospital, The Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, earned a “Poster of Distinction” mention for their work reporting the first clinical laparoscopic RF-assisted use of the InLine in a hepatic resection. The poster describes laparoscopic resections on two separate cirrhotic patients using a right subcostal hand port to insert the InLine system and remove the resected tissue. [Complete Text PDF]

Professor David Morris MD PhD, of the Surgical Oncology group from the University of New South Wales, The St. George’s Hospital in Sydney, Australia, presented results from a multi-center international clinical study. This work included data on forty-seven patients who underwent liver surgery at three sites in the United States, Germany, and Australia. The results show a large and statistically significant reduction in both blood loss and hepatic transection time. Patients included those with liver cirrhosis (Childs A and Childs B), fatty liver disease, and post chemotherapy fibrosis among others. Speaking on behalf of the other researchers, Prof. Morris said “Whilst use of the InLine is of great benefit in normal liver resection, I feel that the InLine is enabling for patients with cirrhosis, fatty livers, and post chemo fibrosis”.

Additional study data solely from the St. George Hospital at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, was also presented during a poster session at the meeting. In the study Prof. Morris and his colleagues conclude that “Use of the InLine was demonstrated to be safe with no intraoperative or postoperative complications as well as no need for additional intraoperative hemostatic controls...such as inflow occlusion or argon beam coagulation [Complete Text PDF]