Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 21, 2024; 30(27): 3278-3283
Published online Jul 21, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i27.3278
Gastric cystica profunda: Another indication for minimally invasive endoscopic resection techniques?
Harjot K Bedi, Douglas Motomura, Neal Shahidi
Harjot K Bedi, Douglas Motomura, Neal Shahidi, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6Z 2K5, BC, Canada
Author contributions: Bedi HK designed and drafted the article; Motomura D and Shahidi N performed critical revision of the article for important intellectual content; Shahidi N approved the final article.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Neal Shahidi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, 770-1190 Hornby Street, Vancouver V6Z 2K5, BC, Canada. nealshahidi@gmail.com
Received: March 29, 2024
Revised: June 7, 2024
Accepted: June 24, 2024
Published online: July 21, 2024
Processing time: 103 Days and 14.8 Hours
Abstract

Gastric cancer presents a significant global health burden, as it is the fifth most common malignancy and fourth leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Variations in incidence rates across regions underscores the multifactorial etiology of this disease. The overall 5-year survival rate remains low despite advances in its diagnosis and treatment. Although surgical gastrectomy was previously standard-of-care, endoscopic resection techniques, including endoscopic mucosal resection and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) have emerged as effective alternatives for early lesions. Compared to surgical resection, endoscopic resection techniques have comparable 5-year survival rates, reduced treatment-related adverse events, shorter hospital stays and lower costs. ESD also enables en bloc resection, thus affording organ-sparing curative endoscopic resection for early cancers. In this editorial, we comment on the recent publication by Geng et al regarding gastric cystica profunda (GCP). GCP is a rare gastric pseudotumour with the potential for malignant progression. GCP presents a diagnostic challenge due to its nonspecific clinical manifestations and varied endoscopic appearance. There are several gaps in the literature regarding the diagnosis and management of GCP which warrants further research to standardize patient management. Advances in endoscopic resection techniques offer promising avenues for GCP and early gastric cancers.

Keywords: Early gastric cancer; Endoscopy; Endoscopic submucosal dissection; Gastric cystica profunda

Core Tip: Gastric cystica profunda is a rare pseudotumour with risk of progression to gastric cancer. In addition to endoscopic visual assessment, endoscopic ultrasound and computed tomography of the abdomen should be used to investigate the depth and lymph node invasion depending on the lesion morphology. Endoscopic resection, specifically endoscopic submucosal dissection, can be an effective management strategy.