Adverse events of stapling in thoracic surgery: relations between an incidence of adverse events and a stapling volume.

PURPOSE The use of staplers for thoracic surgery has been widely accepted and regarded as a safe procedure. However, sometimes adverse events (AEs) of stapling are experienced. The aim of the present study was to retrospectively analyze AEs of stapling in thoracic surgery. METHODS A retrospective multi-institutional review was conducted by the 27 institutions of the Central Japan Lung Cancer Surgery Study Group. Between January 2009 and December 2010, 4495 patients underwent thoracic surgery using mechanical stapling. RESULTS Stapling of various tissues was performed 16403 times. Total number of AEs related to stapling was 126 (0.77%). One hundred and nine events occurred intraoperative and 17 events occurred postoperative. The AE rates ranged from 0% to 1.8%. No relationship was seen between the incidence of AE and a stapling volume of thoracic surgery. CONCLUSION We have investigated intraoperative and postoperative AEs of stapling. Generally, stapling in thoracic surgery was safe. An AE rate of stapling in thoracic surgery is not influenced by the numbers of stapling in institutions.