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World J Gastrointest Endosc. Jun 10, 2016; 8(11): 418-424
Published online Jun 10, 2016. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v8.i11.418
Management of gastric subepithelial tumors: The role of endoscopy
Su Young Kim, Kyoung Oh Kim
Su Young Kim, Kyoung Oh Kim, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University, Gil Medical Center, Incheon 405-760, South Korea
Author contributions: Kim SY and Kim KO contributed equally to this work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No author has any personal or financial conflict of interest.
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: Kyoung Oh Kim, MD, PhD, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Gachon University, Gil Medical Center, 21, Namdong-daero 774beon-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 405-760, South Korea. kkoimge@naver.com
Telephone: +82-32-4603778 Fax: +82-32-4603408
Received: March 26, 2016
Peer-review started: March 27, 2016
First decision: April 19, 2016
Revised: April 28, 2016
Accepted: May 17, 2016
Article in press: May 27, 2016
Published online: June 10, 2016
Processing time: 71 Days and 20.5 Hours
Abstract

With the wide use of esophagogastroduodenoscopy, the incidence of gastric subepithelial tumor (SET) diagnosis has increased. While the management of large or symptomatic gastric SETs is obvious, treatment of small (≤ 3 cm) asymptomatic gastric SETs remains inconclusive. Moreover, the presence of gastrointestinal stromal tumors with malignant potential is of concern, and endoscopic treatment of gastric SETs remains a subject of debate. Recently, numerous studies have demonstrated the feasibility of endoscopic treatment of gastric SETs, and have proposed various endoscopic procedures including endoscopic submucosal dissection, endoscopic muscularis dissection, endoscopic enucleation, endoscopic submucosal tunnel dissection, endoscopic full-thickness resection, and a hybrid approach (the combination of endoscopy and laparoscopy). In this review article, we discuss current endoscopic treatments for gastric SETs as well as the advantages and limitations of this type of therapy. Finally, we predict the availability of newly developed endoscopic treatments for gastric SETs.

Keywords: Subepithelial tumor; Endoscopy; Stomach; Treatment; Complication

Core tip: Recently, technical advances in endoscopic treatment, including diverse endoscopic procedures, have been performed for the resection of gastric subepithelial tumors (SETs). However, the presence of gastrointestinal stromal tumors with malignant potential is of concern and endoscopic treatment of gastric SETs remains of subject of debate. In this review article, we discuss current endoscopic treatments for gastric SETs as well as the advantages and limitations of this type of therapy. The information presented in this review should be taken into consideration when making decisions concerning endoscopic treatment for gastric SETs.