The Feasibility and Safety of the Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection of Superfi cial Gastric Neoplastic Lesions in Patients with Compensated Liver Cirrhosis: A Retrospective Study

Background/Aims: When undergoing endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) may suffer from a high risk of bleeding, bacteremia and tissue vulnerability. There have been few reports evaluating the effi cacy and safety of ESD in patients with LC. Methods: From January 2004 to March 2010, 23 patients with LC (cirrhosis group) underwent ESD for superficial gastric neoplastic lesions. The number of patients with a liver function in the Child-Pugh classes A and B were 20 and 3, respectively. The clinical outcomes and complications were compared with 69 patients without LC (control group) that were matched for age and sex. Results: The en bloc resection, R0 resection and en bloc plus R0 resection rates of the cirrhosis group were 82.6%, 91.3%, and 82.6%, respectively, and did not show significant differences from the rates of the control group. No local recurrence was found in either group during the follow-up period. The procedure length of time (41.0 vs 39.0 minutes), rate of bleeding (4.3% vs 7.2%) and rate of perforation (0.0% vs 1.4%) in the cirrhosis group were also comparable to the results from the control group. Conclusions: ESD was safely performed in patients with LC, and satisfactory outcomes were achieved with high en bloc and R0 resection rates for superfi cial gastric neoplastic lesions. (Gut Liver 2012;6:58-63)