The Long-Term Prognosis According To Therapeutics For Undifferentiated Type Early Gastric Cancer

Expansion of the indication for endoscopic resection to include undifferentiated-type (UD-type) early gastric cancer (EGC) is not widely accepted at this time because UD-type EGC has been associated with high rates of lymph node metastasis than has differentiated-type (D-type) EGC. Recently, we reported that UD-type mucosal EGCs which were 20mm or less in size without ulceration, had a very low risk of lymph node metastasis. (Hirasawa T et al, Gastric Cancer, 2009) Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for EGC is widely used as less invasive therapy. However, the long-term prognosis of ESD for the UD-type EGC as comparison to surgery has not been clarified. We analyzed the long-term prognosis of ESD and surgery in the treatment of the UD-type EGC.