Endoscopic resection for early gastric cancer

Abstract

Endoscopic resection of early gastric cancers (EGC) originated from the development of a polypectomy technique using high-frequency current to gastric polyps in 1968 [1,2], and it became popular as endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) after the birth of a strip biopsy method in 1984 [3]. Endoscopic resection mainly has been developed not in Western countries but in Japan, probably because the incidence of gastric cancer and the tumor description are different between them [4]. Although decreasing in number, the incidence of gastric cancer was approximately 80 patients per 100 000 population in Japan and nearly half the patients had EGC [5]. The increasing ratio of EGC accelerates the development of various novel endoscopic resection techniques and, now, EGC with ulcer findings or with a large size, in any location, can be resected endoscopically using advanced techniques. In this section, indication, techniques, outcomes, and future perspectives of endoscopic resection are summarized. © 2005 Springer-Verlag Tokyo.