More power, less complications?—clinical and economic outcomes of new powered endoscopic staplers

The use of surgical tissue stapler is so widespread that is difficult to imagine a thoracic surgery procedure without using one. The growth of minimally invasive surgery has gone hand in hand with the development of new stapling devices. The Hungarian Hümer Hütl, the “Paganini of the Knife”, was the first surgeon who in 1908 used a stapler in the operating room during a gastric surgery procedure (1). Nevertheless, the current staplers arise from Russian models developed during the Second World War when military surgeons needed devices that could facilitate surgery reducing the operating time.