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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 21, 2015; 21(31): 9273-9285
Published online Aug 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i31.9273
Endoscopic full-thickness resection: Current status
Arthur Schmidt, Benjamin Meier, Karel Caca
Arthur Schmidt, Benjamin Meier, Karel Caca, Department of Gastroenterology and Oncology, Klinikum Ludwigsburg, 71640 Ludwigsburg, Germany
Author contributions: Schmidt A drafted the manuscript, collected and analysed the data together with Meier B; and Caca K reviewed and edited the manuscript.
Supported by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, KMU-innovativ: OntoVigilance SWS365-065, FKZ 01|S12038A) within a subcontract with novineon GmbH (partly).
Conflict-of-interest statement: Arthur Schmidt and Karel Caca have received lectures fees from Ovesco Endoscopy for full-thickness resection device training courses. The authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Arthur Schmidt, MD, Department of Gastroenterology and Oncology, Klinikum Ludwigsburg, Posilipo-Str. 1-4, 71640 Ludwigsburg, Germany. karel.caca@kliniken-lb.de
Telephone: +49-7141-9967201 Fax: +49-7141-9967209
Received: April 4, 2015
Peer-review started: April 7, 2015
First decision: April 23, 2015
Revised: May 16, 2015
Accepted: July 3, 2015
Article in press: July 3, 2015
Published online: August 21, 2015
Processing time: 137 Days and 15.8 Hours
Abstract

Conventional endoscopic resection techniques such as endoscopic mucosal resection or endoscopic submucosal dissection are powerful tools for treatment of gastrointestinal neoplasms. However, those techniques are restricted to superficial layers of the gastrointestinal wall. Endoscopic full-thickness resection (EFTR) is an evolving technique, which is just about to enter clinical routine. It is not only a powerful tool for diagnostic tissue acquisition but also has the potential to spare surgical therapy in selected patients. This review will give an overview about current EFTR techniques and devices.

Keywords: Endoscopic full-thickness resection; Over-the-scope-clip; Colorectal adenoma; Colorectal carcinoma; Endoscopic gastrointestinal surgery

Core tip: Endoscopic full-thickness resection is an evolving technique, which is just about to enter clinical routine. It is not only a powerful tool for diagnostic tissue acquisition but also has the potential to spare surgical therapy in selected patients. This review gives an overview about the current status of endoscopic full-thickness resection. General principles, indications and resection techniques and -devices will be discussed in detail on the basis of currently available literature.