Mid- and long-term outcomes of endoscopic resection for submucosal esophageal cancer types pT1b-SM1 and pT1b-SM2

Background and study aims Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) are promising therapeutic options for early esophageal cancer (EC). The factors that can affect mid- and long-term survival in patients with submucosal EC (SM1 and SM2) have not been described in the literature. We aim to describe clinicopathological outcomes and factors that can affect the mid- and long-term survival in patients with resected submucosal tumors. Patients and methods We performed a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent endoscopic resection (ER) for submucosal tumors over a 20-year period. The final study population included 119 cases with 137 lesions. Information was collected according to the Japanese Classification of Esophageal Cancer 11-edition and factors affecting survival for 2 and 5 years after ER were analyzed. Results EMR was performed in 99 cases (72.3 %), ESD in 38 cases (27.7 %). There were no significant complications. Two- and 5-year survival rates were 91 % and 82 %, respectively. Mean age was 67.22 years (± 9.49 years), mortality caused by EC occurred in 13 cases (11 %). Factors that had a significant impact on long-term survival were age > 65 years ( P = 0.0026), number of resected specimens ( P = 0.0031), presence of another progressive disease (not EC) ( P ≤ 0.001), recurrence ( P = 0.0002), and relation between histopathological positive vertical margin and recurrence ( P = 0.0112). Conclusions ER is viable treatment for esophageal submucosal cancer, selection between ESD/EMR can depend on tumor size and patient condition, and en bloc ER is the recommended technique for submucosal tumors. Long-term survival factors were identified.