Chronological Outcomes and Learning Curve of Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection for Colorectal Tumors / 대한소화기학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is an effective procedure for en-bloc curative resection of the colorectal tumor. As it requires high technical skills and experience in therapeutic endoscopy, it is important to understand learning curve of ESD technique. The aim of this study was to retrospectively describe the clinical results of ESD and to evaluate learning curve for the ESD of colorectal tumors. METHODS: A total of 90 patients with 90 colorectal neoplasms, who had undergone ESD at a tertiary referral hospital from July 2009 to December 2012, were enrolled. The ESD was performed by a single endoscopist. All ESD cases were divided into three periods first, cases 1-30; second, cases 31-60; and third, cases 61-90. RESULTS: The en-bloc resection rates in third period (100%) was significantly higher than that of the first (93.3%) and second period (80%) (p=0.025). The perforation rate in third period (0%) also significantly decreased compared with that of the first (13.3%) and second period (20%) (p=0.032). To calibrate the difference of tumor size among periods, proficiency was calculated, as the procedure time per specimen area (min/cm2). The proficiency in third period (4.3) was significantly shorter than that of the first (16.8) and second period (10.2) (p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: The learning curve of colorectal ESD in our study shows that at least 60 cases of ESD have to be conducted to acquire sufficient skill of degree without perforation.