Automated Suturing Device from Covidien Helps Minimise Operating Time and Costs

Covidian has introduced Endo Stitch, which is an automated suturing device that can be used in the operation room for suturing after surgery. By using the Endo Stitch, the cost and the time consumed for operations such as laparoscopic hysterectomies etc., are reduced considerably.

The time taken for operations is reduced by as much as 40 minutes when compared to surgeries that are performed with robotic assistance. The performance details of the Endo Stitch were presented at the 40th Global Congress of the Minimally Invasive Gynecology of the American Association of GynecologicLaparoscopists (AAGL). The mean time reduction gained by using the Endo Stitch was 20 minutes when compared to the surgical procedures that did not use the Endo Stitch or were robotically assisted.

Laparoscopic suturing requires skill and expertise for the surgeons, but when automated suturing is done, the time consumed for suturing in such procedures is shortened. Suturing with Endo Stitch is comparatively less expensive when compared to robotically assisted suturing, especially in laparoscopic hysterectomy for benign cases. A research study was conducted to compare the overall hospital costs that were incurred by using the Endo Stitch with the operation time by using robotic techniques and non-Endo Stitch techniques. The data, based on which the study was conducted was collected from the inpatient data obtained from the premier’s perspective database (PPD) between January, 2009 to June 30, 2010. The data was processed by performing multivariate analysis by using generalised estimating equations for controlling the demographics and hospital characteristics. The number of patients who were considered for the study was 5,731 diagnosed with cervical uterine, ovarian and tubal cancers. Of these cases, 13% underwent surgery with Endo Stitch, 50% underwent robotically assisted surgeries while the rest were cases that underwent surgery with neither Endo Stitch nor with robotic assistance. Other parameters considered for the study were the age of the patient, race, bed-size of the hospital etc. The results of the study served to show the cost and time reduction provided by Endo Stitch in laparoscopic procedures.