Endoscopic Full-Thickness Resection vs Submucosal Tunneling Endoscopic Resection for Gastric Submucosal Tumors

The new working submucosal tunnel space allows entry to deeper layers of the luminal wall or even entirely outside the gastrointestinal tract for the treatment of submucosal tumors. Based on this concept, we developed submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection (STER). Here, we compared the clinical outcomes between exposed endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR) and STER (nonexposed EFTR) and analyzed the efficacy and safety of Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) based on STER for extra-gastrointestinal stromal tumors (EGISTs).

Sixty consecutive patients with tumors in the lesser curvature of the stomach corpus were enrolled from July 2019 to December 2023. Data on clinicopathologic features, treatment results, and follow-up outcomes were collected and analyzed retrospectively.

Among the 60 patients, 31 patients underwent EFTR and 29 patients underwent STER. The EFTR group had a shorter procedure time ( P = 0.016) but a longer postoperative hospital stay ( P = 0.004) than the STER group. Tumor size > 2 cm and endoloop-clips suture were significantly associated with long-time procedure. NOTES based on STER was successful for EGISTs. Follow-up data from 6 to 60 months was collected with no loss. All patients were free from local recurrence and distant metastasis during the study period.

Although the procedure time of STER is longer than that of EFTR, the postoperative hospital stay is shorter. Tumor size > 2 cm and use of endoloop-clips suture are significantly associated with long-time procedure. In addition, STER-based NOTES is a promising and safe methodology for the resection of EGISTs.