Endoscopic submucosal dissection for colorectal laterally spreading tumors with the Dual knife only

The knives for endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) have their strengths as well as shortcomings. They need to be used in combination in most cases. The Dual knife is a relatively novel type of ESD knife produced in 2009, which can be used for completing the whole procedure of ESD.

Colorectal laterally spreading tumors (LSTs) are a special subtype of colorectal neoplasms. We aimed to evaluate the clinical features and outcomes of ESD for colorectal LSTs only using the Dual knife from our experience.

This retrospective study included 162 patients (each patient had 1 lesion) with colorectal LSTs treated by ESD with the Dual knife by a single endoscopist at our hospital between June 2015 and January 2018. We analyzed the clinical features and outcomes after resection.

We obtained the en bloc ESD of the colorectal LSTs and the complete histological assessment in all patients. The mean age of the patients was 53.9 years. The mean diameter of lesions was 46 mm. The most common location of LSTs was the rectum. The most common histological type was tubular adenoma with 63 cases. The mean operating time was 56 min. Perforation and bleeding rates were 0.6% and 0.6%, respectively. No cases of local persistence or recurrence were observed at a follow-up endoscopy 6 to 31 months after the en bloc resection.

The ESD using the Dual knife only for colorectal LSTs has the advantages of safety, efficiency, and minimally invasiveness. It is worthy of widespread clinical application.