ABSTRACT
A prospective study was carried out at Surgical Unit IV, Liaquat Medical College Hospital, Jamshoro to compare hand sutured with stapled anastomosis from April 1994 to March 1998. Of the total 91 patients in the study, 58 were hand sutured while 33 underwent stapler anastomosis. Patients were divided into seven categories according to the type of anastomosis viz. oesophagogastric [9 sutured, 13 stapled], small intestinal [22 sutured, one stapled], ilcocolic [12 sutured, 3 stapled], colonic [8 sutured, 14 stapled], colorectal [3 sutured, 6 stapled], ileoanal [2 sutured, 3 stapled], and coloanal [2 sutured, 3 stapled]. The occurrence of anastomotic leak was 13.79% in sutured and 9.09% in stapled group whereas stricture formation was 3.72% in sutured and 12.12% in stapled anastomosis. The incidence of wound infection was 1.34% in sutured and 6.6% in stapled group, while reactionary haemorrhage was 3.72% in sutured and 6.6% in stapled anastomosis. The mortality was 10.39% in sutured and 9.09% in stapled group. It was concluded that in stapler anastomosis a lot of time is saved, hospital stay is short, and morbidity and mortality is decreased