Development of the surgical stapling device

Abstract

Most surgeons who use staplers today attribute their invention to researchers who worked during the mid-fifties in the Soviet Union. While the modern staplers are derivates of those instruments, it also needs to be emphasized that they were preceded by stapling devices which were used extensively as early as the first decade of this century. The early history of surgical staplers is full of imaginative new ideas and technical solutions clearly identified as the instruments we use today were developed. The great men in Hungary and Germany who invented the early staplers should be remembered for their accomplishments.