Endoscopic full thickness resection vs. transanal endoscopic microsurgery for local treatment of rectal neuroendocrine tumors - a retrospective analysis

PURPOSE: Local treatment of small well-differentiated rectal neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) is recommended by current guidelines. However, although several endoscopic methods have been established, the highest R0 rate is achieved by transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM). Since a recently published study about endoscopic full thickness resection (eFTR) showed a R0 resection rate of 100%, the aim of this study was to evaluate both methods (eFTR vs. TEM). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed all patients with rectal NET treated either by TEM (1999–2018) or eFTR (2016–2019) in two tertiary centers (University Hospital Wuerzburg and Ulm). We analyzed clinical, procedural, and histopathological outcomes in both groups. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients with rectal NET received local treatment (TEM: 13; eFTR: 15). Most tumors were at stage T1a and grade G1 or G2 (in the TEM group two G3 NETs were staged T2 after neoadjuvant chemotherapy). In both groups, similar outcomes for en bloc resection rate, R0 resection rate, tumor size, or specimen size were found. No procedural adverse events were noted. Mean procedure time in the TEM group was 48.9 min and 19.2 min in the eFTR group. CONCLUSION: eFTR is a convincing method for local treatment of small rectal NETs combining high safety and efficacy with short interventional time. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00384-020-03800-x.