Early gastrointestinal cancer: The application of artificial intelligence

Early gastrointestinal (GI) cancer has been the core of clinical endoscopic work. Its early detection and treatment are tightly associated with patients’ prognoses. As a novel technology, artificial intelligence has been improved and applied in the field of endoscopy. Studies on detection, diagnosis, risk, and prognosis evaluation of diseases in the GI tract have been in development, including precancerous lesions, adenoma, early GI cancers, and advanced GI cancers. In this review, research on esophagus, stomach, and colon was concluded, and associated with the process from precancerous lesions to early GI cancer, such as from Barrett’s esophagus to early esophageal cancer, from dysplasia to early gastric cancer, and from adenoma to early colonic cancer. A status quo of research on early GI cancers and artificial intelligence was provided.

Advanced endoscopic submucosal dissection with traction

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has been established as a standard treatment for early stage gastric cancer (EGC) in Japan and has spread worldwide. ESD has been used not only for EGC but also for early esophageal and colonic cancers. However, ESD is associated with several adverse events, such as bleeding and perforation, which requires more skill. Adequate tissue tension and clear visibility of the tissue to be dissected are important for effective and safe dissection. Many ESD methods using traction have been developed, such as clip-with-line method, percutaneous traction method, sinker-assisted method, magnetic anchor method, external forceps method, internal-traction method, double-channel-scope method, outerroute method, double-scope method, endoscopic-surgical-platform, and robot-assisted method. Each method has both advantages and disadvantages. Robotic endoscopy, enabling ESD with a traction method, will become more common due to advances in technology. In the near future, simple, noninvasive, and effective ESD using traction is expected to be developed and become established as a worldwide standard treatment for superficial gastrointestinal neoplasias.