Endoscopic resection for small esophageal submucosa tumor: Band ligation versus conventional endoscopic mucosal resection

Endoscopic management of an unexpected cause of esophageal perforation

A 46-year-old male complained of epigastric pain for 3 months with no prior history of disease. An esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) revealed a submucosal tumor (SMT) adjacent to a diverticulum in the lower esophagus.

Experience with Esophageal Granular Cell Tumors: Clinical and Endoscopic Analysis of 22 Cases

BACKGROUND

Esophageal granular cell tumors (GCTs) are rare tumors. Differences in reports on the clinical features of GCTs in the esophagus and some controversies about the diagnostic strategy for esophageal GCTs exist.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to investigate the clinical features and diagnosis of esophageal GCTs. Additionally, we sought to determine the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease and reflux esophagitis in patients with esophageal GCTs.

METHODS

We retrospectively studied the clinical features, endoscopic features, and management of 22 patients with esophageal GCTs.

RESULTS

Esophageal GCTs were more common in men than in women with a ratio of 1.2:1 and were predominantly found in the distal esophagus. Ten patients with esophageal GCTs had regurgitation and/or heartburn symptoms, and eight patients were confirmed to have reflux esophagitis by endoscopy. All esophageal GCTs were protuberant lesions covered by normal esophageal epithelium. The endoscopic morphology of esophageal GCTs was diverse. On endoscopic ultrasonography, these tumors appeared as homogeneous or inhomogeneous hypoechoic lesions with clear borders originating from the submucosal or mucosal layer. Eleven patients underwent endoscopic forceps biopsy at the first endoscopy, and only six patients were correctly diagnosed by pathology. Nevertheless, the 18 lesions treated with endoscopic resection were all correctly diagnosed without complications, and no patients developed recurrence during the follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONS

The occurrence of esophageal GCTs may be related to esophageal inflammation. As a method for obtaining an accurate pathological diagnosis and for treatment, endoscopic resection should be offered as the primary option for patients with esophageal GCTs.

Ligation-assisted endoscopic mucosal resection for esophageal granular cell tumors is safe and effective

Given their malignant potential, resection of esophageal granular cell tumors (GCTs) is often undertaken, yet the optimal technique is unknown. We present a large series of dedicated endoscopic resection using band ligation (EMR-B) of esophageal GCTs. Patients diagnosed with esophageal GCTs between 2002 and 2019 were identified using a prospectively collected pathology database. Endoscopic reports were reviewed, and patients who underwent dedicated EMR-B of esophageal GCTs were included. Medical records were queried for demographics, findings, adverse events, and follow-up. We identified 21 patients who underwent dedicated EMR-B for previously identified esophageal GCT. Median age was 39 years; 16 (76%) were female. Eight (38%) had preceding signs or symptoms, potentially attributable to the GCT. Upon endoscopic evaluation, 12 (57%) were found in the distal esophagus. Endoscopic ultrasound was used in 15 cases (71%). Median lesion size was 7 mm, interquartile range 4 mm-8 mm. The largest lesion was 12 mm. A total of 20 (95%) had en bloc resection confirmed with pathologic examination. The only patient with tumor extending to the resection margin underwent surveillance endoscopy that showed no residual tumor. No patients experienced bleeding, perforation, or stricturing in our series. No patients have had known recurrence of their esophageal GCT. EMR-B of esophageal GCT achieves complete histopathologic resection with minimal adverse events. EMR-B is safe and effective and seems prudent compared with observation for what could be an aggressive and malignant tumor. EMR-B should be considered first-line therapy when resecting esophageal GCT up to 12 mm in diameter.

Resection of early esophageal neoplasms: The pendulum swings from surgical to endoscopic management

Esophageal cancer is a highly lethal disease and is the sixth leading cause of cancer related mortality in the world. The standard treatment is esophagectomy which is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This led to development of minimally invasive, organ sparing endoscopic therapies which have comparable outcomes to esophagectomy in early cancer. These include endoscopic mucosal resection and endoscopic submucosal dissection. In early squamous cell cancer, endoscopic submucosal dissection is preferred as it is associated with cause specific 5-year survival rates of 100% for M1 and M2 tumors and 85% for M3 and SM1 tumors and low recurrence rates. In early adenocarcinoma, endoscopic resection of visible abnormalities is followed by ablation of the remaining flat Barrett’s mucosa to prevent recurrences. Radiofrequency ablation is the most widely used ablation modality with others being cryotherapy and argon plasma coagulation. Focal endoscopic mucosal resection followed by radiofrequency ablation leads to eradication of neoplasia in 93.4% of patients and eradication of intestinal metaplasia in 73.1% of patients. Innovative techniques such as submucosal tunneling with endoscopic resection are developed for management of submucosal tumors of the esophagus. This review includes a discussion of various endoscopic techniques and their clinical outcomes in early squamous cell cancer, adenocarcinoma and submucosal tumors. An overview of comparison between esophagectomy and endoscopic therapy are also presented.

Clinical outcomes of ligation-assisted endoscopic resection for duodenal neuroendocrine tumors

Duodenal carcinoid tumors, a type of neuroendocrine tumors, are relatively rare and are usually found incidentally during endoscopy. Small duodenal carcinoid tumors (≤10-20 mm), embedded in the submucosa, can be resected endoscopically because of the low risk of metastasis. The aim of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of ligation-assisted endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for the treatment of small duodenal carcinoid tumors. The clinical outcomes of the endoscopic procedures were also evaluated.Between November 2008 and November 2017, a total of 15 duodenal carcinoid tumors embedded in the submucosa were resected using EMR. Two types of EMR (conventional EMR and ligation-assisted EMR) were performed according to tumor morphology (narrow-based and broad-based).The mean tumor size was 6.6 ± 3.9 mm and the mean procedure time was 11.0 ± 11.2 minutes. Most of the lesions (80.0%) were located in the duodenal 1st portion. Broad-based tumors were more common than narrow-based tumors (66.7% vs 33.3%). All broad-based tumors were resected successfully using ligation-assisted EMR. Although en-bloc resection and complete resection rates were higher in ligation-assisted EMR than in conventional EMR ([100% vs 87.5%], and [85.7% vs 62.5%], respectively), the difference was not significant (P = .333 and P = .310, respectively). Moreover, there was no evidence of local or distant metastasis during the follow-up (26.1 ± 20.7 months).Ligation-assisted EMR showed a higher complete resection rate than conventional EMR. Ligation-assisted EMR may be an optimal treatment option for duodenal carcinoid tumors with a broad base.