[Practical skills of harmonic scalpel in laparoscopic gastrointestinal surgery]

Harmonic scalpel, one of the most commonly used energy tools, have been recognized as an important revolutionary development in surgical device. Due to its convenience in cutting, coagulating, and dissecting harmonic scalpel has been increasingly used to performed surgery by more and more surgeons. In gastrointestinal surgeries, however, many manipulationssuch as dissecting soft connective tissues off the stomach or colon, isolating and cutting particular vessels, would require proper techniques in handling harmonic scalpels. Thus, based on our experiences of using harmonic scalpel in laparoscopic gastrointestinal surgeries, we summarized a "nine-word tactics", which may be helpful for beginners to use harmonic scalpels in a proper and efficient manner.