Can a stapling device with bioabsorbable polyglycolic acid felt reduce intraoperative air leak?

Currently, it is unknown whether polyglycolic acid (PGA) felt staplers can reduce the occurrence of intraoperative air leaks. We investigated whether staplers with bioabsorbable PGA felt reduced intraoperative air leakage compared to the conventional stapler in patients undergoing lung resection.

From 2013 to 2021, 211 patients diagnosed with lung cancer or pulmonary metastasis underwent lung resection using only PGA felt (n=88) or conventional (n=123) staplers at Tokyo Rosai Hospital. One-to-one propensity score matching was used to compare intraoperative air leak rates, operation time, and intraoperative bleeding between the two groups.

The PGA felt group required more staples than the conventional stapler group. The forced expiratory volume in one second percentage of predicted in the PGA felt stapler group was lower than that in the conventional stapler group. In the PGA felt stapler group, 56.8% of patients had undergone anatomic lung resection, whereas 29.3% of patients in the conventional stapler group had undergone wedge resection. In a propensity-matched analysis of 67 pairs, the occurrence of intraoperative air leaks was significantly lower in the PGA felt stapler group than in the conventional stapler group (16.4% vs. 56.7%, P<0.001). The operation time was significantly shorter and intraoperative bleeding was significantly lower in the PGA felt stapler group than in the conventional stapler group (P=0.001 and P=0.016, respectively).

Pulmonary resection using staplers with a PGA felt could reduce the occurrence of intraoperative air leaks among patients undergoing lung resection.