Table 3.

Postoperative Outcomes (N =163)

Outcome	Staples (n=84)	Suture (n=79)	Relative Risk (95% CI)
Primary composite outcome*	28 (33)	25 (32)	1.05 (0.68–1.64)
Wound infection 10–21 d†	5 (6)	5 (6)	0.95 (0.29–3.16)
Wound breakdown 10–21 d†	19 (23)	17 (22)	1.06 (0.60–1.89)
Length (cm) (n, median (IQR)	18, 7 cm (3–13)	15, 4 cm (1–8)
Depth (cm) (n, median (IQR)	12, 4.3 cm (3–5.3)	9, 2 cm (1–3)
Wound breakdown 4–8 wks‡	21 (28)	13 (19)	1.51 (0.82–2.78)
Length (cm) (n, median (IQR)	18, 4.5 cm (3–10)	11, 2.5 cm (1–3)
Adjuvant treatment received§	43 (52)	40 (52)	1.00 (0.74–1.34)
Delay of adjuvant treatment||	1 (2.3)	2 (5)	0.47 (0.04–4.93)

CI = confidence interval

Data are n (%) unless otherwise specified. Missing values were excluded from the denominator of the percentages.

Analyses were performed by Fisher exact test (if cell count was less than 5) or Chi-square test for categorical variables; and independent t-tests for continuous variables.

^*Primary composite outcome = wound breakdown and surgical site infection.

^†Missing data in staple group only (n=83).

^‡Missing data. Effective sample size per group: staples (n=75) and suture (n=70).

^§Missing data. Effective sample size per group: staples (n=83) and suture (n=77).

^||For delay of adjuvant treatment, n (%) and relative risk are calculated only on patients having adjuvant therapy administrated, n=43 for staples group and n=40 for suture group.