The Use of Haemostatic Agents and Sealants for the Prevention of Lymphocele After Urological Surgery: A Review of the Literature

Despite the continuous technological innovation in urological surgery procedures, lymphocele represents one of the major and more frequent complications both in tumour and transplant surgery. Haemostatic agents have been used hypothesizing a beneficial effect on the prevention of lymphoceles. We aimed to review the published literature to establish whether haemostatic agents and sealants are an effective option for lymphocele prevention following urological procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An extensive PubMed search was performed including the following keywords: "lymphocele", "lymphocele prevention", "fibrin glue", "collagen patch", "fibrin patch", and "haemostatic material". The search, which collected data until January 2000, was restricted to the full text available articles in the English language and human studies. RESULTS: Our research identified 64 articles, among these only four fulfilled the inclusion criteria. A total of 133 patients underwent surgery and were treated with haemostatic agents and/or sealants to reduce the lymphoceles formation. The mean age was 56.1 years. A negligible variability in study design and in results and complication reporting is common. The 6.45% of patients treated with haemostatic biomaterials developed lymphocele. The rate difference of lymphoceles formation and recurrence between patient groups treated with sealant than in the controls groups is small (6.45% vs 6.88%). CONCLUSIONS: The evidences presented in the examined studies are only preliminary and insufficient to draw significant conclusions. A major, multicentre, randomized controlled trial is strongly needed.