[A case of exfoliative esophagitis caused by endoscopic submucosal dissection during imatinib treatment for gastrointestinal stromal tumor].

A woman in her seventies with multiple early stage (0-IIa) gastric cancers was undergoing imatinib therapy for gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Subsequently, she underwent 2-stage endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for these cancers. Both procedures were successful, but she developed exfoliative esophagitis as a complication after the first ESD. To prevent this complication after the second ESD, we used a longer imatinib withdrawal period before the procedure and used general anesthesia during ESD. Although the patient developed exfoliative esophagitis after the second ESD, but its severity was less than that after the first procedure. Only a few studies have reported endoscopic therapy-induced exfoliative esophagitis. We suggest that this complication may be related to imatinib-induced mucosal damage.