Endoscopic submucosal dissection for gastric cancer

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a novel endoscopic treatment that enables a clinician to resect an early-stage gastric cancer in en bloc fashion. ESD is indicated for those cancers in which there is a high probability of en bloc resection and low probability of lymph node metastasis. The latter may be the limiting factor at institutions skilled at ESD. Several ESD techniques are available with similar outcomes. Thus, selection depends on operator preference and expertise. Gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy should be applied initially to those early gastric cancers with high probability of positive lymph nodes or as an additional treatment after ESD. Endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) should be reserved for small, nonulcerated, intramucosal, differentiated cancers. Disadvantages of ESD in comparison with EMR are longer operation times and higher incidences of intraoperative bleeding and perforation, but the indication for ESD includes larger and ulcerative lesions not amenable to EMR.