ObjectiveTo compare the advantages and drawbacks of harmonic scalpel (HS) versus conventional electro-scalpel (ES) in the surgery for carcinoma of uterine cervix. MethodsA total of 126 patients with stage Ⅰ uterine cervix carcinoma who underwent surgery between January 2011 and November 2015 were randomly and averagely divided into HS group and ES group with 63 patients in each. The operation time, intra-operative bleeding volume, the number of lymph nodes detected and operation cost were compared between the two groups of patients. ResultsAll the patients underwent surgery successfully. There were significant differences between the HS and ES groups in terms of operation time[(202.06±11.67) minutes vs.(223.48±18.01) minutes, P<0.001], intra-operative bleeding[(373.97±27.95) mL vs.(458.16±33.18) mL, P<0.001], operation cost[(4 171.43±276.46) yuan vs.(3 101.54±258.59) yuan, P<0.001]. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the number of lymph nodes detected (10.38±2.43 vs.9.76±2.61, P=0.172). ConclusionThe use of harmonic scalpel can reduce operation time and intra-operative bleeding volume effectively, but it cannot increase the number of lymph nodes detected. Moreover, it significantly increases the operation cost and economic burden for the patients.