Endoscopic removal of gastric ectopic pancreas: an initial experience with endoscopic submucosal dissection

To evaluate the therapeutic usefulness and safety of endoscopic resection in patients with gastric ectopic pancreas.

A total of eight patients with ectopic pancreas were included. All of them underwent endoscopic ultrasonography before endoscopic resection. Endoscopic resection was performed by two methods: endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) by the injection-and-cut technique or endoscopic mucosal dissection (ESD).

We planned to perform EMR in all eight cases but EMR was successful in only four cases. In the other four cases, saline spread into surrounding normal tissues and the lesions became flattened, which made it impossible to remove them by EMR. In those four cases, we performed ESD and removed the lesions without any complications.

If conventional EMR is difficult to remove gastric ectopic pancreas, ESD is a feasible alternative method for successful removal.