Is hand sewing comparable with stapling for anastomotic leakage after esophagectomy? A meta-analysis

Table 1 Study characteristics

Ref.	Year	Anastomostic methods	No. of patients	Male/female	Mean age (yr)	Jadad score
Fok et al[4]	1991	Hand-sewn	25	Details unknown	63.7	2
		Stapler	27		65.3
Valverde et al[26]	1996	Hand-sewn	74	67/7	59	3
		Stapler	78	71/7	59
Craig et al[25]	1996	Hand-sewn	50	27/23	65	2
		Stapler	50	34/16	65
Law et al[24]	1997	Hand-sewn	61	54/7	64	2
		Stapler	61	53/8	64
Laterza et al[23]	1999	Hand-sewn	21	4/17	50.9	3
		Stapler	20	3/17	51.9
Walther et al[22]	2003	Hand-sewn	41	28/13	68	3
		Stapler	42	23/13	66
Hsu et al[21]	2004	Hand-sewn	32	27/5	63	2
		Stapler	31	30/1	61
Okuyama et al[19]	2007	Hand-sewn	18	16/2	64.3	2
		Stapler	14	13/1	63.6
Luechakiettisak et al[18]	2008	Hand-sewn	59	50/9	63.6	2
		Stapler	58	48/10	62
Aquino et al[17]	2009	Hand-sewn	15	Details unknown	45.6	3
		Stapler	15		45.6
Zhang et al[15]	2010	Hand-sewn	244	142/102	60	2
		Stapler	272	158/114	59
Wu et al[20]	2005	Hand-sewn	154	122/32	54	3
		Stapler	162	116/46	55
Saluja et al[13]	2012	Hand-sewn	87	54/33	50.9	3
		Stapler	87	61/26	51.4
Cayi et al[14]	2012	Hand-sewn	125	92/33	56	2
		Stapler	102	79/31	59
Wang et al[12]	2013	Hand-sewn	52	27/5	60.8	3
		Stapler	92	30/1	58.9