Long-term outcome of endoscopic submucosal dissection for early gastric cancer in patients with severe comorbidities: a comparative propensity score analysis.

BACKGROUND

Recently, endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for early gastric cancer (EGC) has been performed on patients with severe comorbidities because it is less invasive, although little is known regarding long-term outcomes. This study aimed to assess the long-term outcomes of ESD for patients with severe and non-severe comorbidities.

METHODS

We enrolled 1081 patients who underwent ESD for EGC between February 2004 and June 2013. Based on the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status (ASA-PS) classification, we defined patients with severe and non-severe comorbidities as ASA-PS 3 and 1/2, respectively. We retrospectively compared the overall survival, risk factors for mortality, and adverse events between these two groups using propensity score matching and inverse probability of treatment weighting.

RESULTS

A total of 488 patients met the eligibility criteria. After matching, the ASA-PS 3 group showed a significantly shorter survival than the ASA-PS 1/2 group (5-year overall survival rate, 79.1 vs. 87.7%; p < 0.01). In addition, only the ASA-PS 3 group had a significant risk factor for mortality using both the Cox analysis [hazard ratio (HR), 2.56; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.18-5.52; p = 0.02] and the IPTW method (HR, 3.14; 95% CI 1.91-5.14; p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in adverse events after matching between the two groups (p = 0.21).

CONCLUSIONS

The long-term outcome of gastric ESD for patients with severe comorbidities was worse than for those with non-severe comorbidities. Further studies will be necessary to determine if ESD is truly warranted in these patients.