Surgical Staplers & Staples: What You Need to Know

What Are Surgical Staples?

Surgical staples are special staples applied to surgical wounds to hold them together while they heal. They are also used to connect or remove parts of certain organs or tissues within the body, such as the bowels or lungs.

Unlike sutures, which often are intentionally left on the wound to dissolve into the patient’s skin as the wound heals, most forms of surgical staples must be removed by a doctor once sufficient healing has occurred.

What Are Surgical Staples Made of?

Most surgical staples are made of stainless steel or titanium. However, other metals may be used, including:

• Chromium
• Nickel
• Iron

Plastic staples also exist for patients allergic to the metals of which most staples are made. In some cases — mostly plastic surgery procedures — absorbable staples made of polylactide-polyglycolide copolymer are used. Naturally, no removal procedure is necessary for these.

How Do Surgical Staplers Work?

Surgical staplers compress tissue and fire a staggered row of staples in order to connect tissue and/or seal surgical wounds. Some stapler models also cut away excess tissue if necessary to clean up the wound closure area.

That said, there are several types of surgical staplers that vary in their method of operation and the procedures in which they’re used.