[Early stomach cancer: endoscopic therapy]

Endoscopic removal of early gastric cancers is limited to low risk situation: T1m (= mucosa) L0 V0 G1-2 R0. In 40 patients pretherapeutic staged as low risk cancers the complete endoscopic removal of the lesion was performed. In 75% (29 out of 40) the pathological specimen proved a low risk cancer. In 16% (5 out of 29) we found recurrency of the tumor (follow up median 2.5 years). These neoplasms were also removed. From the 25% highrisk cases (Sm, G3) 11 patients were operated on. Only 2 patients had residual tumor. The complication rate of the endoscopic procedures was only 10% (4 x bleeding with transfusion of blood-units, 1 x perforation), no patient died.