Guide tube for the transanal use of circular staplers.

Guide tubes of three different diameters with corresponding inner obturators are very useful in rectal surgery, as they facilitate anorectal intubation, evacuation of residual gas after preoperative coloscopy and sub-peritoneal dissection of the rectum at the future anastomotic site. After withdrawal of the inner obturator, the circular stapler (EEA or ILS) can be introduced aseptically and without trauma through the guide tube, and the various adjustment markings of the stapler can easily be checked at any moment during the last stages of the procedure. Guide tubes are now used, by the author, for the execution of all intestinal anastomoses, whether end-to-end or end-to-side, low in the rectum.