AIM: To compare the leakage rate of esophagojejunal anastomosis performed with stapler or hand sutures. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied a series of 367 patients who underwent total gastrectomy for gastric cancer at the Instituto de Enfermedades Neoplásicas (Lima-Peru) from 1986 to 1999. RESULTS: In 197 patients esophagojejunal anastomosis was performed with stapler and in 170 with manual sutures. There were no differences between both groups with regard to age, TNM stage, operating time and hospital stay. There were 8 anastomotic leakage (4.1%) in the stapler group and 4 (2.4%) in the hand sutures group (p> 0.05). Of these 12 cases, 2 patients (16%) died of causes directly related to the leak of the esophagojejunal anastomosis. CONCLUSION: There were no statistical differences in the rate of leakage of the esophagojejunal anastomosis performed with stapler or hand sutures, thus both techniques should be accepted as standard procedures.