CINCINNATI, Ohio – Doctors are offering a minimally invasive option for patients diagnosed early. Our expert tells you how this procedure works and why it could change treatment forever.
Every year, thousands of patients are told they have gastrointestinal cancer.
“GI cancers are one of the most common cancers,” said Moamen Gabr, MD, interventional gastroenterologist at UC Health.
For decades, treatment almost always meant surgery. Now, doctors at UC Health are using endoscopic submucosal dissection, or ESD to remove some tumors without cutting into the body.
“We just rely on introducing the camera either through the mouth or through the rectum,” explained Dr. Gabr.
Using a thin, flexible scope with tiny tools, doctors use a special fluid to lift up the cancerous lesion. Then, doctors can safely peel it away from the deeper lining of the digestive tract.
“We’re cutting through all the lateral margins until that whole precancerous area is removed,” described Dr. Gabr.
Traditional surgery for GI cancers often requires incisions, longer hospital stays, and sometimes the removal of part of the stomach, esophagus, or colon. With ESD, there are no external cuts and recovery is faster, sometimes even on the same day.
“The key advantage is that we’re keeping that organ in place, no incisions from the outside, and no one likes to have an incision, even small ones,” Dr. Gabr told Ivanhoe.
For patients, that means better recovery, quicker and cancer-free!
Because ESD removes the tumor in one piece, it lowers the risk of recurrence and makes follow-up care more effective. But doctors stress that the key is catching cancer early when ESD can be effective.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldshmidt, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.