Early bursting strength of human colon anastomoses--an in vitro study comparing current anastomotic techniques.

An experimental in vitro study involving ten hand-sutured, ten biofragmentable anastomotic ring (BAR) and ten stapled anastomoses was conducted to compare current anastomotic techniques on the basis of early bursting pressure. The 30 fresh human colon segments used in the study were harvested from patients who had undergone elective oncologic resection. Following the construction of in vitro anastomoses, the pressure required to burst these specimens was measured. The results showed no significant differences among the three techniques. Since hand-sutured anastomoses proved to be as effective and reliable as the other methods and can offer the advantage of cost savings, they should remain standard procedure in colorectal surgery.