- General information of the included studies.
| Authors | Tumor location (cm) | Tumor size, mean±SD (cm) | TNM (0 / I / II / III) | Method of suture | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Experimental | Control | Experimental | Control | Experimental | Control | Experimental | Control | |
| Zhang et a l15 | 7.54±2.12 | 6.59±1.87 | NA | NA | 0/22/18/20 | 0/23/20/17 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| WU et al 16 | NA | NA | 4.10±1.30 | 4.21±1.35 | 0/I+II:35/49 | 0/I+II:68/102 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| LI et al 17 | 7.09±2.76 | 6.95±2.57 | 4.07±1.45 | 3.98±1.58 | 0/20/56/25 | 0/20/54/26 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| He et al 18 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| YANG et al 19 | NA | NA | 3.64±0.42 | 3.44±0.46 | NA | NA | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| Jin et al 20 | 9.25±2.69 | 8.53±3.31 | 3.76±1.66 | 3.77±1.42 | 2/23/58/40 | 1/18/57/59 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| LI et al 21 | 7.53±2.52 | 7.46±2.49 | 3.38±1.57 | 3.26±1.35 | 0/45/49/25 | 0/37/50/32 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| Luo et al 22 | NA | NA | 4.3±0.20 | 4.60±0.20 | 0/14/50/22 | 0/26/70/32 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| Ban et al 10 | NA | NA | 4.4±1.7 | 4.1±1.8 | NA | NA | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| Maeda et al 23 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| Hashida et al 13 | 6.2 | 6.8 | 3.8 | 3.5 | NA | NA | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| Zhang et al 2 | 10 | 9.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | NA | NA | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| jiang et al 24 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 18/18/29/2 | 11/14/15/1 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| Lin et al 25 | 7.00 | 7.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 0/10/41/72 | 0/7/43/73 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| Liu et al 26 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 0/13/29/21 | 0/12/33/23 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
| Sheng et al 27 | NA | NA | 2.43±0.71 | 2.51±0.67 | 0/5/18/17 | 0/6/21/19 | Laparoscopic reinforcing sutures | No |
RCT: randomized controlled tria, CCS: case-control study, Experimental: reinforcement and suture, Control: unreinforced, NA: not available, BMI: body mass index, Tumor location: Tumor site from anal verge, TNM: AJCC staging