A prospective comparative study of post-operative complications of hand sewn versus stapled anastomosis in elective GI surgeries

Abstract

Background: Anastomotic leak and wound infection are the two feared complications of any bowel anastomosis. In this study a comparison between hand suturing and surgical stapling in patients undergoing elective gastrointestinal surgerieswith regard to post-operative complications namely anastomotic leak and wound infection. Methods: A prospective study was conducted in 40 patients undergoing elective resection and anastomosis over a period of 1 year. Post-operatively patients were followed up for post-operative complications namely anastomotic leak and wound infection. Follow up for 30 days post-operative was done. Results: In total forty patients were studied out of which twenty patients underwent hand sewn and twenty patients underwent stapler anastomosis. There was anastomotic leak in 1 case of gastrojejunostomy in hand sewn group. No leak was observed in stapled anastomosis group. Wound infection was observed in 5 cases. 4 cases were in hand sewn group and 1 in stapled group. There was no mortality in either group post-operatively. A sub-group analysis was also done. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in the incidence of post-operative complications namely anastomotic leak and wound infection with respect to hand sewn and staples techniques. Therefore both hand sewn and stapled anastomosis technique can be safely practiced.