Endoscopic therapy of early gastric cancer.

Endoscopic therapy of early gastric cancer is applicable for differentiated-type mucosal carcinomas that have an extremely low potency of lymph-node metastasis. Among various kinds of endoscopic therapy, endoscopic mucosal resection is the most recommended procedure, because pathological evaluation of affected tissues is available using this method. Recently, endoscopic submucosal dissection, a novel method of endoscopic mucosal resection, has gained interest as a more reliable therapeutic procedure. In the present chapter several issues will be presented on endoscopic therapy for early gastric cancer, including endoscopic diagnosis of early gastric cancer, currently accepted indications of endoscopic therapy, and the possibility of extending the indication and techniques used for mucosal resection.