Endoscopic submucosal dissection in the colorectum: Feasibility in the Canadian setting

A Nationwide Survey of Training Pathways and Practice Trends of Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection in Canada

Background

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has become an established standard for endoscopic removal of large gastrointestinal (GI) lesions and early GI malignancies. However, ESD is technically challenging and requires significant health care infrastructure. As such, its adoption in Canada has been relatively slow. The practice of ESD across Canada remains unclear. Our study aimed to provide a descriptive overview of training pathways and practice trends of ESD in Canada.

Methods

Current ESD practitioners across Canada were identified and invited to participate in an anonymous cross-sectional survey.

Results

Twenty-seven ESD practitioners were identified; survey response rate was 74%. Respondents were from 15 different institutions. All practitioners underwent international ESD training of some type. Fifty per cent pursued long-term ESD training programs. Ninety-five per cent attended short-term training courses. Sixty per cent and 40% performed hands-on live human upper and lower GI ESD, respectively, before independent practice. In practice, 70% saw an increase per year in number of procedures performed from 2015 to 2019. Sixty per cent were dissatisfied with their institution’s health care infrastructure to support ESD. Thirty-five per cent perceived their institution as supportive of expanding the practice of ESD.

Conclusions

Several challenges exist to the adoption of ESD in Canada. Training pathways are variable, with no set standards. In practice, practitioners express dissatisfaction with access to necessary infrastructure and feel poorly supported in expanding the practice of ESD. As ESD is increasingly the accepted standard for the treatment of many neoplastic GI lesions, greater collaboration between practitioners and institutions is crucial to standardize training and ensure patient access.

Clinical pathway to discharge 3 days after colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection

BACKGROUND AND AIM

Colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a useful treatment method; however, no index has been established for time for patient to start food ingestion or be discharged after ESD. We investigated the potential of a clinical pathway in which patients started food ingestion on day 2 after ESD and were discharged on day 3.

METHODS

A total of 382 patients underwent colorectal ESD between 2006 and 2012. A flow chart of a clinical pathway was prepared based on the data obtained, with the aim of shortening hospital stay after ESD.

RESULTS

Mean duration of postoperative hospital stay in the 382 patients was 5.3 ± 1.8 days. The most common cause of extended hospital stay was abnormal blood test finding, as detected in 50 patients in group C (n = 131; 38.2%), followed by careful course observations, as noted in 48 patients in group C (n = 131; 36.6%). Regarding procedural accidents as a result of ESD, intraoperative perforation occurred in 15 patients (3.9%) and post-ESD bleeding in seven patients (1.8%), which extended the hospital stay. Food ingestion was started on day 2 when no abnormality was noted during ESD or in physical and imaging findings or blood tests on day 1. In the 86 patients who underwent the prepared clinical pathway as a validation study, 68 (79.0%) were discharged on day 3. Duration of postoperative hospital stay was 3.4 ± 1.2 days.

CONCLUSION

Discharge may be possible 3 days after ESD when no abnormalities are noted during ESD or on post-ESD day 1.

Novel diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for surveillance of dysplasia in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

The risk for developing dysplasia and colorectal cancer in patients with longstanding inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) involving the colon is well documented. Random biopsies during white-light, standard-definition colonoscopy (33 to 50 biopsies) with or without dye spraying chromoendoscopy has been the recommended strategy in North America to detect dysplastic lesions in IBD. However, there are several limitations to this approach including poor physician adherence, poor sensitivity, increased procedure time and considerable cost. The new generation of high-definition endoscopes with electronic filter technology provide an opportunity to visualize colonic mucosal and vascular patterns in minute detail, and to identify subtle flat, multifocal, polypoid and pseudopolypoid neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions. The application of these new technologies in IBD is slowly being adopted in clinical practice. In addition, the advent of confocal laser endomicroscopy provides an opportunity to explore real-time histology, thus redefining the understanding and characterization of the lesions in IBD. There is emerging evidence that serrated adenomas are also associated with longstanding IBD colitis and may be recognized as another important contributing factor to colorectal cancer development. The circumscribed neoplastic lesions can be treated using endoscopic therapeutic management such as mucosal resection or, especially, endoscopic submucosal dissection. This may replace panproctocolectomy in selected patients. The authors review the potential of these techniques to transform endoscopic diagnosis and therapeutic management of dysplasia in IBD.