Application of endoscopic submucosal dissection for removal of deep invasive submucosal colon carcinoma

Endoscopic submucosal (sm) dissection (ESD) is a recently used technique that enables en-bloc resection of large colorectal tumors allowing a more precise histopathological analysis of the resected specimen. However, it has not been widely adopted even in Japan mainly due to its technical difficulty and increased risk of perforation. Herein, we present an ESD-treated lesion with deep sm invasion removed without complications, such as bleeding or perforation, from a patient at high-risk for surgical intervention. A successful ESD was achieved although the sm invasion was greater than 1000 mum from the muscularis mucosae, and the nonlifting sign was positive. It is our belief that this procedure should be performed at least in patients at high-risk for surgical intervention. At present, we have removed 16 lesions with deep sm invasion by ESD without complications, demonstrating that deep sm cancer can be successfully resected by this technique as a local resection. Herein, we report on one of these cases.