Feasibility and efficacy of argon plasma coagulation for early esophageal squamous cell neoplasia

We present 19 cases in which argon plasma coagulation (APC) was used as curative initial treatment for 5 low-grade esophageal squamous intraepithelial neoplasias (ESINs), 12 high-grade ESINs, and 2 early esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCCs). Complete response was defined as the absence of tumor from any biopsy taken from the ablated lesion. At follow-up endoscopy 2 - 4 months after APC, 94.7 % of patients had achieved complete response in a single treatment session. Only one patient with high-grade ESIN showed local recurrence. This patient underwent additional APC and showed complete response at 12 months after initial APC. At the 12-month follow-up endoscopy, again 94.7 % had a complete response. The exception was one patient with local recurrence, who underwent additional APC. After the 12-month follow-up endoscopy, no patient showed local recurrence during a median follow-up of 22 months. No stricture requiring endoscopic dilation occurred after the procedure. This study suggests that APC is a feasible and effective treatment modality for ESIN and early ESCC.