Management of strictures after endoscopic submucosal dissection for superficial esophageal cancer

Endoscopic resection of early esophageal cancer has a high therapeutic effect while being minimally invasive. Especially, the establishment of the endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) procedure has made it possible to resect large lesions in an en-bloc manner. As a result, accurate pathology evaluation became possible, and the risk of local recurrence was extremely low. On the other hand, esophageal strictures after endoscopic treatment of an extensive circumferential lesion are a potential problem. Previously, for the prevention and treatment of esophageal strictures, patients had to undergo painful endoscopic balloon dilation (EBD) many times. It is, however, associated with complications (perforation, bleeding, etc.). For this, oral intake and/or a local injection of steroids were given and EBD sessions were less frequently or even unnecessarily performed. Furthermore, oral mucosa epithelial cell sheet transplantation and biodegradable stents are applied for controlling post-ESD stricture. Nevertheless, EBD was still the treatment option for refractory cases of stenosis. Recently, endoscopic radial incision and cutting methods have been applied to esophageal post-procedural strictures and even for anastomotic strictures following surgery. Thus, it is now becoming possible to treat circumferential lesions with ESD and to control the resultant stenosis.