Table 1.

Characteristics of Included Studies

	Author	Year	Study Type	Group Aa	Group Ba	Group A (Reinforcement)			Group B (Non-Reinforcement)
						Leak, %	Bleed, %	Mortality, %	Leak, %	Bleed, %	Mortality, %
No reinforcement
1	Casella et al.b2	2009	Retrospective		100				2.0	0.0	0.0
2	Sanchez-Santos et al.b3	2009	Retrospective		159				5.3	1.0	0.3
3	Sammour et al6	2010	Retrospective		100				3.0	2.0	0.0
4	Magee et al.7	2011	Retrospective		68				0.0	0.0	0.0
5	Bellanger et al.8	2011	Retrospective		529				0.0	0.4	0.2
6	Sabbagh et al.9	2010	Prospective		59				1.7	0.0	0.0
7	Nienhuijs et al.10	2010	Retrospective		74				5.4	1.3	0.0
8	Armstrong et al.11	2010	Retrospective		185				0.0	1.1	0.0
9	Ser et al.b4	2010	Retrospective		40				1.0	0.0	0.0
10	Triantafyllidis et al.12	2011	Retrospective		85				3.5	3.5	0.0
11	Dapri et al.b5	2010	RCTc		25				4.0	0.0	0.0
12	Rice et al.13	2010	Retrospective		115				3.5	0.0	0.9
13	Kiriakopoulos et al.14	2009	Prospective		15				6.7	6.7	0.0
14	Behrens et al.15	2011	Retrospective		34				2.9	2.9	0.0
Reinforcement
1	Chowbey et al.16	2010	Retrospective	75		0.0	0.0	1.3
2	Burgos et al.17	2009	Prospective	214		3.3	0.0	0.0
3	Leyba et al.18	2011	Prospective	42		0.0	2.4	0.0
4	Daskalakis et al.19	2011	Retrospective	144		2.1	2.8	0.0
5	Menenakos et al.20	2010	Retrospective	261		3.8	1.9	0.3
6	Albanopoulos et al.21	2010	Retrospective	353		3.4	2.5	0.8
7	Alley et al.22	2010	Retrospective	85		0.0	2.3	0.0
8	Gluck et al.23	2010	Retrospective	204		0.0	1.0	0.0
9	Ayloo et al.24	2011	Retrospective	30		0.0	0.0	0.0
10	Casella et al.b2	2009	Retrospective	100		4.0	0.0	0.0
11	Arias et al.25	2009	Retrospective	130		0.8	0.0	0.0
12	Diamanitus et al.26	2010	Retrospective	25		0.0	0.0	0.0
13	Jacobs et al.27	2010	Retrospective	157		1.3	0.0	0.6
14	Basso et al.d28	2011	Retrospective	100		4.0	8.0	1.0
15	Basso et al.d	2011	Retrospective	200		2.5	2.5	0.5
16	Lakdawala et al.29	2010	Retrospective	50		2.0	0.0	0.0
17	Ser et al.b4	2010	Retrospective	78		0.0	2.5	0.0
18	Dapri et al.b,e5	2010	RCT	50		6.0	0.0	0.0
19	Dapri et al.b,e	2010	RCT	50		6.0	0.0	0.0
20	Angrisani et al.30	2011	Retrospective	121		0.0	0.0	0.0
21	Sanchez-Santos et al.b3	2009	Retrospective	381		2.6	0.8	0.6
22	Csendes et al.31	2010	Prospective	343		4.7	2.3	0.0

^aGroup A comprises patients with reinforcement of the staple line, whereas group B comprises patients with non-reinforcement of the staple line.

^bStudies with reinforced and non-reinforced cohorts.

^cRCT = randomized controlled trial.

^dBasso et al. included 300 patients who all underwent staple-line reinforcement: 100 underwent Peri-Strip (Synovis Surgical Innovations, Deerfield, IL USA) reinforcement, whereas 200 underwent suture reinforcement.

^eDapri et al. included 3 cohorts: 1 non-reinforced and 2 reinforced (suture and Seamguard [W. L. Gore and Associates, Flagstaff, AZ, USA]).