Stapled versus handsewn closure of enterotomy for intracorporeal overlap anastomosis in laparoscopic colectomy: in vitro study.

BACKGROUND

In laparoscopic colectomy, overlap anastomosis (OA) is the most standard method of intracorporeal anastomosis. To avoid narrowing the anastomotic area, the closure of the enterotomy is often performed with handsewn running sutures of the monofilament. The purpose of this study was to compare two porcine in vitro colon models of stapled versus handsewn closure of enterotomy in intracorporeal OA.

METHODS

In total, 40 porcine in vitro colon OA models (20 cases in the stapled closure, SC group, in which the enterotomy was closed with a stapler, and 20 cases in the handsewn closure with monofilament, HC group) were created, and anastomotic area with maximum intensity projection-computed tomography, anastomotic time, and leakage pressure were measured.

RESULTS

In the anastomotic area, there was no significant difference between in the SC group and HC group (474.0 ± 105.0 mm2 versus 502.6 ± 155.6 mm2, p = 0.552). The anastomotic time was significantly shorter in the SC group than in the HC group (185.9 ± 38.3 s versus 292.4 ± 67.8 s, p < 0.001). The leakage pressure was significantly higher in the SC group than in the HC group (30.1 ± 3.8 mmHg versus 21.6 ± 5.3 mmHg, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study using porcine in vitro colon model showed that, in OA, the anastomotic area was similar, anastomotic time was significantly shorter, and leakage pressure was significantly higher in SC compared with HC. The results suggest that SC may be superior to HC when performing intracorporeal OA in laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer.