[Endoscopic mucosectomy for resection of early gastric cancer and precancerous lesions].

The authors collected 14 cases of early gastric cancer located in the mucosa and precancerous lesions which were resected with endoscopic mucosectomy. These lesions were as follows: 6 cases were early cancer (IIc type: 4 cases; IIa type: 2 cases); 3 cases were severe dysplasia; 5 cases were adenoma, Yamada I type. The size of all the lesions was less than 20mm. Four cases of early gastric cancer were resected completely. Two cases were resected incompletely, but radical gastrectomy was performed one month after endoscopic mucosectomy. All the three cases of severe dysplasia had complete resection. But two of them received resection twice. Five cases of adenoma were also resected completely. The criteria of complete endoscopic resection were those reported in the Japanese literature. All cases have been followed up for 4-41 months; endoscopic and histological studies showed that there were no residual and recurrent cancer cells. The complete resection rate was 85.7% (12/14). The results suggest that endoscopic mucosectomy can be applied to the patients with early gastric cancer located in the mucosa and precancerous lesions less than 20mm in size, which can be resected completely. This method is safe, entails less complications and is especially suitable for the old and weak patients.