Background: In low anterior resections, anastomosis continues to present major problems. Although the single-stapling technique (SST) is considered to be superior to the double-staple technique (DST) in terms of leakage and stenosis, SST requires suturing, which is particularly difficult during laparoscopic surgery. A simpler and safer method of anastomosis is needed. In this study, we developed a pre-ligation SST (L-SST) that does not require suturing and evaluated the usefulness of L-SST in an ex vivo and an in vivo porcine model.
Methods: Porcine rectums were ligated using SurgiTie™ and sharply resected instead of using a linear stapler. The burst pressures of the closed rectums after using a linear stapler and SurgiTie™ (each group; n = 5) and the burst pressures of the anastomoses performed with L-SST and DST (each group; n = 4) were measured. During in vivo porcine laparoscopic surgery, we performed and evaluated the feasibility of L-SST.
Results: After completing the anastomosis with L-SST, the ligated portion using SurgiTie™ was completely removed. The stump closed using SurgiTie™ was much stronger than that closed using a stapler (131.2 and 25.6 mmHg, respectively; P = 0.01). The average burst pressure of the anastomoses performed with L-SST was 33.8 mmHg, whereas that performed with DST was 30.5 mmHg. We did not find significant difference between these two groups (P = 0.88). We also confirmed the feasibility of L-SST in an in vivo porcine laparoscopic surgery model.
Conclusion: We developed a novel SST, the L-SST. We were able to perform L-SST successfully using an ex vivo porcine rectum and during in vivo porcine laparoscopic surgery.