Reinforcement suturing after laparoscopic low anterior resection had a leak rate similar to preventive stoma, without the need for stoma-closure surgery.
- In a multicenter study of 345 patients, the overall 30-day anastomotic leak rate was 3.2%.
- After propensity score matching, leaks occurred in 5.6% of reinforcement patients and 4.2% of preventive stoma patients.
- All leaks were ISREC grade C and Clavien-Dindo grade IIIb.
For selected rectal cancer patients, reinforcement suturing is a reasonable option to discuss when a stoma is not wanted, since its leak rate was not clearly higher. The retrospective design cannot prove that reinforcement protects against leaks or is equal to a stoma, so this is a reason to consider the approach, not to abandon the stoma.
Journal Article by Wang M, Jiang J (…) Liu Z et 6 al. in Surg Endosc
© 2026. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.