ObjectiveTo investigate the influence of semi-mechanical and hand-sewn esophagogastric anastomoses on postoperative anastomostic complications in patients undergoing esophagectomy. MethodsA systematic, computer-aided literature search was performed in PubMed, OVID, CNKI and BioMed databases for studies which were published from database establishment to December 2013. A manual literature search was also performed. We included randomized controlled trials (RCT)and observational studies which investigated the influence of semi-mechanical and conventional hand-sewn esophagogastric anastomoses on postoperative anastomostic complications. Quality assessment and data extraction were performed, and RevMan 5.2 was used for meta-analysis. ResultsTwelve relevant studies with 1 271 patients were included (3 RCTs and 9 observational studies).No significant heterogeneity among the 12 trials was found, so fixed effects model was used for meta-analysis.There was statistical difference in the incidence of postoperative anastomotic leak between hand-sewn and semi-mechanical esophagogastric anastomoses[RCT RR=0.34, 95%CI (0.12, 0.97), P < 0.05;observational studies OR=0.40, 95%CI (0.26, 0.62), P < 0.05]. Postoperative incidence of anastomostic stricture was reported in all 12 studies. There was statistical difference in the incidence of postoperative anastomotic stricture between hand-sewn and semi-mechanical esophagogastric anastomoses[RCT RR=0.14, 95%CI (0.04, 0.47), P < 0.05;observational studies OR=0.22, 95%CI (0.15, 0.34), P < 0.000 1]. ConclusionsCompared with conventional hand-sewn anastomosis, semi-mechanical esophagogastric anastomosis can significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative anastomostic leak and stricture. Due to limited quantity and quality of included studies, more high-quality studies with larger sample size including RCT and non-randomized studies are needed to confirm these findings.
ObjectiveTo compare the complication morbidity of mechanical and hand-sewn esophagogastric anastomosis systemically. MethodsMedline (January 1960 to June 2015), EMbase (January 1980 to June 2015), Cochrane Library (January 1996 to June 2015), Web of Science (January 1980 to June 2015) and other databases were searched to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about comparing the complication morbidity of hand-sewn and mechanical anastomosis. Moreover, the references were searched by search engines such as Google Scholar. Papers were screened according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. And then the data were extracted. The quality of current meta-analysis was assessed by GRADE profiler 3.6 software. The meta-analysis was conducted using Stata 12.0 software. ResultsA total of 1 611 patients in 14 RCTs were reviewed. The results suggested that the anastomatic leakage rate of mechanical method showed no significant difference from that of hand-sewn method[RR=1.07, 95%CI (0.76, 1.51), P=0.699]. While the anastomatic stenosis rate was even higher[RR=1.59, 95%CI (1.21, 2.09), P=0.001]. ConclusionMechanical method can't reduce the anastomotic leakage rate following esophagogastrostomy, while it maybe increase the risk of anastomotic stenosis on the contrary. The patients' physical condition should be considered when surgeons make the choice.