Western outcomes of circumferential endoscopic submucosal dissection for early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background and Aims: Circumferential endoscopic submucosal dissection (cESD) in the esophagus has been reported to be feasible in small Eastern case series. We assessed the outcomes of cESD in the treatment of early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in Western countries.
Methods: We conducted an international study at 25 referral centers in Europe and Australia using prospective databases. We included all patients with ESCC treated with cESD before November 2022. Our main outcomes were curative resection according to European guidelines and adverse events.
Results: A total of 171 cESDs were performed on 165 patients. En bloc and R0 resections rates were 98.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 95.0-99.4) and 69.6% (95% CI, 62.3-76.0), respectively. Curative resection was achieved in 49.1% (95% CI, 41.7-56.6) of the lesions. The most common reason for noncurative resection was deep submucosal invasion (21.6%). The risk of stricture requiring 6 or more dilations or additional techniques (incisional therapy/stent) was high (71%), despite the use of prophylactic measures in 93% of the procedures. The rates of intraprocedural perforation, delayed bleeding, and adverse cardiorespiratory events were 4.1%, 0.6%, and 4.7%, respectively. Two patients died (1.2%) of a cESD-related adverse event. Overall and disease-free survival rates at 2 years were 91% and 79%.
Conclusions: In Western referral centers, cESD for ESCC is curative in approximately half of the lesions. It can be considered a feasible treatment in selected patients. Our results suggest the need to improve patient selection and to develop more effective therapies to prevent esophageal strictures.
Competing Interests: Disclosure The following authors disclosed financial relationships: E. R. de Santiago: Consultant for Olympus and Apollo Endosurgery; speaker for Norgine and Casen Recordati. R. E. Pouw: Consultant for Medtronic BV and MicroTech Europe; speaker for Pentax. B. L. A. M. Weusten: Consultant and speaker for Pentax Medical; research grant support from Pentax Medical and Aqua Medical. J. Jacques: Consultant for Olympus, Pentax, Fujifilm, and ERBE Medical; speaker for Janssen. D. Libânio: Speaker for Olympus and Fujifilm Europe. M. Dinis-Robeiro: Consultant for Roche and Medtronic. All other authors disclosed no financial relationships. A. Herreros-de-Tejada: Consultant for Boston Scientific; speaker for Norgine, Creo Medical, Olympus, and Sonoscape.
(Copyright © 2024 American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)