Background: Liver cirrhosis and esophageal cancer share several risk factors, such as alcohol intake and overweight. Endoscopic resection is the gold standard treatment for superficial tumors. Portal hypertension and coagulopathy may increase the bleeding risk in these patients. This study aims to assess the safety and efficacy of endoscopic resection for early esophageal neoplasia in patients with cirrhosis or portal hypertension.
Methods: This retrospective multicentric international study included consecutive patients with cirrhosis or portal hypertension who underwent endoscopic resection in the esophagus from January 2005 to March 2021.
Results: 134 lesions in 112 patients were treated, in 101 (77%) cases by endoscopic submucosal dissection. Most patients (128/134 cases, 96%) had liver cirrhosis, with esophageal varices in 71 procedures. To prevent bleeding, 7 patients underwent a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt, 8 had endoscopic band ligation (EBL) before resection, 15 received vasoactive drugs, 8 a platelet transfusion and 9 underwent EBL during the resection procedure. The complete macroscopic resection rate, en-bloc resection rate and curative resection rate were 92%, 86%, and 63%, respectively. Three perforations, 8 delayed bleedings, 8 sepsis, 6 cirrhosis decompensations within 30 days and 22 esophageal strictures occurred. No adverse event required surgery. In univariate analyses, cap-assisted endoscopic mucosal resection was associated with more delayed bleeding (p=0.01).
Conclusions: In case of liver cirrhosis or portal hypertension, endoscopic resection of early esophageal neoplasia in patients appears to be effective and should be considered in expert centres with choice of resection technique following ESGE guidelines without undertreatment.
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