Arcuate-legged nonpenetrating vascular closure staples (VCS): early experience

Vascular closure staples (VCS) provide a novel technique for fashioning vascular anastomoses, allowing a single operator to perform suture-less anastomoses. They may be used primarily or in an adjuvant role. When VCS are compared to a running suture, advantages include the avoidance of intimal damage, platelet aggregation and intimal hyperplasia at the anastomotic suture line, and a shorter time taken to complete the anastomosis. We report our early experience using VCS in an array of vascular anastomoses and conclude that VCS are a useful addition to the vascular surgeon's armamentarium. They help to decrease the time taken to construct an anastomosis, and are particularly useful in an adjuvant setting, complementing conventionally placed sutures.