Published online Apr 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i16.4566
Revised: December 9, 2013
Accepted: January 14, 2014
Published online: April 28, 2014
Processing time: 182 Days and 15.3 Hours
Gastric cancer remains one of the most common causes of cancer death. However the proportion of early gastric cancer (EGC) at diagnosis is increasing. Endoscopic treatment for EGC is actively performed worldwide in cases meeting specific criteria. Endoscopic mucosal resection can treat EGC with comparable results to surgery for selected cases. Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) increases the en bloc and complete resection rates and reduces the local recurrence rate. ESD has been performed with expanded indication and is expected to be more widely used in the treatment of EGC through the technological advances in the near future. This review will describe the techniques, indications and outcomes of endoscopic treatment for EGC.
Core tip: Gastric cancer remains one of the most common causes of cancer death. However the proportion of early gastric cancer (EGC) at diagnosis is increasing. Endoscopic mucosal resection is an effective treatment modality with comparable results to surgery for selected cases of EGC. Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) increases en bloc and complete resection rates and reduces the local recurrence rate. Recently, favorable outcomes of ESD have been reported in patients meeting expanded criteria of endoscopic treatment for EGC. This review will describe the techniques, indications and outcomes of endoscopic treatment for EGC.