Irregular Z-Line: To Biopsy or Not to Biopsy?

The z-line refers to the squamocolumnar junction which marks the transition between the normal stratified squamous epithelium of the distal esophagus and the columnar epithelium of the gastric cardia. An "irregular" z-line refers to an irregular appearing squamocolumnar junction characterized by the presence of columnar mucosa less than 1 cm in length that extends above the gastroesophageal junction. In contrast, Barrett's esophagus is diagnosed when columnar mucosa of at least 1 cm is seen in the distal esophagus extending above the gastroesophageal junction with biopsies demonstrating specialized intestinal metaplasia. Current guidelines recommend against taking routine biopsies from a normal or irregular z-line in the absence of visible abnormalities and advise against endoscopic surveillance in this patient population, in large part due to multiple studies demonstrating lack of progression to advanced neoplasia such as high-grade dysplasia or esophageal adenocarcinoma in patients with an irregular z-line. Despite these recommendations, a sizable number of patients without Barrett's esophagus undergo biopsies from the z-line and are subsequently recommended to have surveillance endoscopies. Furthermore, patients with an irregular z-line are often mislabelled as Barrett's esophagus resulting in significant downstream consequences including higher healthcare costs and reduced health-related quality of life. In this review, we highlight the importance of landmark identification of the distal esophagus and gastroesophageal junction at the time of endoscopy, share recommendations from current guidelines related to the z-line, examine rates of neoplastic progression in those with an irregular z-line, discuss consequences of routinely biopsying an irregular z-line, and highlight strategies on how to approach an irregular z-line if seen on endoscopy. A careful, high-quality endoscopic examination can help to identify visible abnormalities at the z-line, which, if present, should be targeted for biopsies to rule out dysplasia and neoplasia.

Long-term survival outcomes of endoscopic therapy vs. surgical resection in patients with cardia gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

The ideal surgical approach for treating cardia gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is not clearly established. This study aimed to assess the long-term survival results among patients who received endoscopic therapy (ET) or surgical resection (SR) for cardia GIST. Cardia GIST patients from 2000 to 2019 were selected from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end result (SEER) database. Multiple imputation (MI) was applied to handle missing data, and propensity score matching (PSM) was carried out to mitigate selection bias during comparisons. Demographic and clinical characteristics' effects on overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were assessed using Kaplan-Meier analyses and multivariate Cox proportional hazard models. A total of 330 patients with cardia GIST were enrolled, including 47 (14.2%) patients with ET and 283 (85.8%) patients with SR. The 5-year OS and CSS rates in the ET and SR groups were comparable [before PSM, (OS) (76.1% vs. 81.2%, P = 0.722), (CSS) (95.0% vs. 89.3%, P = 0.186); after PSM, (OS) (75.4% vs. 85.4%, P = 0.540), (CSS) (94.9% vs. 92.0%, P = 0.099)]. Moreover, there was no significant difference between ET and SR in terms of long-term OS (hazard ratio [HR] 0.735, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.422-1.282) and CSS (HR 1.560, 95% CI 0.543-4.481). Our study found no significant disparity in long-term survival outcomes between ET and SR in cardia GIST patients, implying that ET could be a valid surgical strategy for treating cardia GIST.

Feasibility and efficacy of endoscopy with blue laser imaging for the detection and diagnosis of cardia polyps: A single-center randomized controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the detection rate and diagnostic accuracy of cardia polyps using endoscopy with blue laser imaging (BLI) and white-light imaging (WLI). METHODS: Patients were randomly divided into the BLI group and WLI group according to the endoscopic procedures. BLI followed by WLI was conducted in the BLI group, whereas WLI followed by BLI examination was conducted in the WLI group. The number, size, microstructure, and microvascular patterns of cardia polyps detected were recorded. Biopsy of the polyps was then performed. RESULTS: The detection rate of cardia polyps in the BLI group was higher than that in the WLI group (7.87% vs 4.22%, P = 0.018). The rate of overlooked lesions in the BLI group was lower than in the WLI group (0.64% vs 3.38%, P = 0.003). The diagnostic coincidence rate between magnifying BLI and histopathology was 88.16%. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for the diagnosis of neoplastic lesions by magnifying endoscopy with BLI were 90.91%, 87.69%, 55.56%, and 98.28%, respectively. The most remarkable patterns for predicting inflammatory polyps were the prolonged and fine network patterns (sensitivity 71.43%, specificity 93.75%). Small round combined with honeycomb patterns were the most common among fundic gland polyps (sensitivity 80.00%, specificity 98.48%). Neoplastic lesions presented as villous or ridge-like combined with core vascular or unclear pattern for both microvascular and microstructure patterns. CONCLUSION: BLI is more effective than WLI in the detection and diagnosis of cardia polyps, and magnifying endoscopy with BLI may help diagnose such lesions.

Abnormal performance of peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM): a case misdiagnosed as achalasia of cardia.

BACKGROUND: Pseudoachalasia is a rare disease that behaves similarly to achalasia (AC), making it sometimes difficult to differentiate. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of 49-year-old male with adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction misdiagnosed as achalasia. No obvious abnormalities were found in his initial examinations including upper digestive endoscopy, upper gastrointestinal imaging and chest computed tomography (CT). During the subsequent introduced-peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM), it was found that the mucosal layer and the muscular layer had severe adhesion, which did not receive much attention, delayed the clear diagnosis and effect treatment, and ultimately led to a poor prognosis for the patient. CONCLUSIONS: This case suggests that when patients with AC found mucosal and muscular adhesions during POEM surgery, the possibility should be considered that the lesion may be caused by a malignant lesion.

Effects of Anterior Fundoplication on Postoperative Dysphagia and Reflux After Laparoscopic Esophagocardiomyotomy for Pediatric Achalasia.

Introduction: Achalasia among children often fails endoscopic management (e.g., dilation, botulinum toxin). Laparoscopic esophagocardiomyotomy (L-ECM) is a standard intervention to relieve obstruction but can induce gastroesophageal reflux (GER). Concurrent anterior fundoplication (A-fundo) has been evaluated in randomized trials among adults, demonstrating mixed results on controlling postoperative GER without exacerbating dysphagia. Furthermore, evidence for the best approach among children remains sparse. We hypothesized that, among children undergoing L-ECM without mucosal violation, routine A-fundo would not improve postoperative GER control while exacerbating dysphagia. Materials and Methods: Observational data of 47 consecutive achalasia patients ≤18 years who received L-ECM (2002-2023) at a single academic institution were collected. Patient records were culled for demographics, achalasia characteristics, and outcomes. Two L-ECM groups were identified: with or without A-fundo. Patients were screened for postoperative dysphagia (additional procedures) and GER (new antireflux medications). Univariate independence testing was conducted to identify statistically significant variables. Results: Among 47 patients undergoing L-ECM, 28 (59.6%) received concurrent A-fundo. Compared with patients undergoing L-ECM alone, patients with L-ECM/A-fundo had significantly longer hospital stays (P < .01) without statistically different rates of postoperative dysphagia (P = .81) or GER (P = .51). Five children (10.6%) experienced mucosal injury with L-ECM: 4 recognized intraoperatively received A-Fundo without subsequent leak; 1 mucosal injury was missed and did not receive A-Fundo, which subsequently leaked. Conclusion: In this largest observation of pediatric achalasia patients, A-fundo appeared clinically insignificant when determining contributors to control GER or exacerbate postoperative dysphagia. A-fundo should not be routinely adopted in children having L-ECM for achalasia without further multicenter analysis but appears beneficial in cases having inadvertent mucosal violation.

A scoring system to predict the technical difficulty of endoscopic resection for cardial submucosal tumors.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Endoscopic resection has been successfully used for the removal of digestive submucosal tumors (SMTs). However, the cardia has been considered a challenging location for endoscopic resection due to its narrow lumen and sharp angle. The objective of this study was to establish a clinical scoring model to grade the technical difficulty of endoscopic resection for cardial SMTs. METHODS: A total of 246 patients who suffered cardial SMTs and received endoscopic resection were included in this retrospective study. All of them were randomized into the training cohort (n = 123) or internal validation cohort (n = 123). Potential predictors were analyzed using univariate analysis. Then, covariates with P < 0.05 were selected for the multivariate logistic regression model. The ß coefficients from the logistic regression model were used to create a scoring system for technical difficulty prediction by rounding the score to the nearest integer of the absolute ß coefficient value. RESULTS: The clinical score consisted of the following factors: male gender (2 points), extraluminal growth (3 points), and maximum diameter ≥3 cm (3 points). The scoring model demonstrated good discriminatory power, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.860 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.763-0.958. The model also showed a good goodness of fit in the Hosmer-Lemeshow test (P = 0.979). In the training cohort, the probability of encountering technical difficulty in the easy (score = 0), intermediate (score = 1-3), difficult (score = 4-6), and very difficult (score >6) categories was 0, 6.8%, 33.3%, and 100.0%, respectively; similarly, in the validation cohort, it was 0, 5.6%, 22.2%, and 50.0%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This scoring system could serve as a valuable tool for clinicians in predicting the technical difficulty of endoscopic resection for cardial SMTs.

How-I-do-it: laparoscopic intragastric submucosal dissection (LISD) for gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction early lesions.

PURPOSE: Laparoscopic intragastric submucosal dissection (LISD) is a novel approach to the resection of gastric lesion that are not amenable to conventional endoscopic approaches. The technique permits favourable access to lesions situated at the cardia and angular notch of the stomach, enables en-bloc resection of large areas of tissue, and can prevent the need of formal gastrectomy or oesophagectomy in selected patients. METHODS: All cases were deemed suitable for LISD by a multidisciplinary team panel following endoscopic assessment (using white light enhancement, chromoendoscopy and magnification endoscopy) that was integrated when needed with EUS, CT scan or PET scan. The surgical technique consisted in a 3-port laparoscopic approach; after establishment of pneumoperitoneum, three gastrotomies were performed to enable port insertion into the stomach. Following establishment of stable pneumogastrium, the area of interest was identified, submucosal hyaluronic acid injection performed to provide a cushion in the plane of dissection, and the excision area was circumferentially marked with cautery. Resection was completed using cautery hook, along a plane parallel to the muscolaris propria. After the specimen was extracted in a retrieval bag, intracorporeal single layer running suture closure of gastrotomies was performed. The abdominal wall closed by layers and tap block performed along with local anaesthetic injection on skin incision. Measures were taken to ensure correct orientation of resected specimens prior to fixation. RESULTS: During the study period that spans from 2014 and 2022, a total of 11 patients underwent LISD for limited lesions of the stomach, 10 were located at gastro-oesophageal junction and one at the angular incisura. Four patients were female, seven males. The median age was 74 (46-79) years. R0 resection rate was 54.5%. Mean operative time was 109 min with very low blood loss (10 ml). Mortality rate was 0%, no immediate major complications (Grade II-V Clavien Dindo), including haemorrhage or perforation, occurred in these cases. Two patients developed dysphagia later that was successfully treated with endoscopic balloon dilatations. Median hospital stay was 3 days and median oral intake was on day 1 post-procedural. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic intragastric submucosal dissection is shown to be a safe and effective intervention for the treatment of early gastric cancers in selected patients having undergone deemed not amenable for endoscopic submucosal resection for their technically challenging location. Its application can serve as route to avoid formal surgery and the associated morbidity.

Novel metabolic biomarker for early detection and diagnosis to the patients with gastric cardia adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) is classified as Siewert type II adenocarcinoma at the esophagogastric junction in Western countries. The majority of GCA patients do not exhibit early warning symptoms, leading to over 90% of diagnoses at an advanced stage, resulting in a grim prognosis, with less than a 20% 5-year survival rate. METHOD: Metabolic features of 276 GCA and 588 healthy controls were characterized through a widely-targeted metabolomics by UPLC-MS/MS analysis. This study encompasses a joint pathway analysis utilizing identified metabolites, survival analysis in both early and advanced stages, as well as high and negative and low expression of HER2 immunohistochemistry staining. Machine learning techniques and Cox regression models were employed to construct a diagnostic panel. RESULTS: A total of 25 differential metabolites were consistently identified in both discovery and validation sets based on criteria of p < 0.05, (VIP) ≥ 1, and FC ≥ 2 or FC ≤ 0.5. Early-stage GCA patients exhibited a more favorable prognosis compared to those in advanced stages. HER2 overexpression was associated with a more positive outcome compared to the negative and low expression groups. Metabolite panel demonstrated a robust diagnostic performance with AUC of 0.869 in discovery set and 0.900 in validation set. CONCLUSIONS: A total of 25 common and stable differential metabolites may hold promise as liquid non-invasive indicators for GCA diagnosis. HER2 may function as a tumor suppressor gene in GCA, as its overexpression is associated with improved survival. The downregulation of bile acid metabolism in GCA may offer valuable theoretical insights and innovative approaches for precision-targeted treatments in GCA patients.

Analysis of endoscopic and pathological features of 6961 cases of gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer (GC) stage and tissue differentiation affect treatment efficacy and prognosis, highlighting the importance of understanding the risk factors that affect these parameters. Therefore, this study analyzed risk factors affecting the GC stage and differentiation and the relationships between the cancer site and the sex and age of the patient. We collected clinical data from 6961 patients with GC, including sex, age, endoscopic lesion location, and pathological differentiation. Patients were grouped based on GC stage (early or advanced), differentiation (well or poorly differentiated), and lesion site (upper stomach [cardia and fundus], middle stomach [gastric body], and lower stomach [gastric antrum]). Differences in sex, age, location, stage, and degree of differentiation were assessed based on these groupings. Univariate analysis revealed that the disease location and differentiation significantly differed based on the GC stage (P < 0.05), whereas sex, age, site, and stage significantly differed based on GC differentiation (P < 0.05). A multivariate analysis confirmed these factors as independent risk factors affecting GC. Moreover, lesion sites significantly differed between sexes (P < 0.05) and among age groups (P < 0.05). Although the effects of family history, lifestyle, and Helicobacter pylori infection status of the patients were not considered, this single-center retrospective study established independent risk factors for GC.Trial registration ChiCTR2200061989.

Intraoperative esophageal washout reduces free intraluminal tumor cells during resection of carcinomas of the esophagus and cardia.

OBJECTIVE: Intraluminally shed viable tumor cells might contribute to anastomotic recurrence in cancer of the esophagus and the cardia. The study aimed to establish a method of esophageal washout and, hence, to reduce intraluminal cancer cells before esophageal anastomosis. METHODS: Forty-eight consecutive patients with esophago-gastric resection for histologically proven cancer of the esophagus or the cardia were included in a prospective, interventional study. Before transection, the esophagus was clamped proximally to the tumor and rinsed with 1:10 diluted povidone-iodine-solution (10 × 30 ml) applied by a transorally inserted 24F-Foley catheter. The first, fifth and tenth portion of the lavage fluid were sent to cytological examination. RESULTS: Intraoperative frozen sections confirmed clear proximal resection margins of the esophagus. The cytological examination of the fluid recovered from the esophageal washout revealed malignant cells in 13/48 patients (27%). The presence of malignant cells was significantly less likely in patients with neoadjuvant treatment than in patients without neoadjuvant treatment: 2/23 (9%) vs. 11/25 (44%) (p = 0.009). Repetitive washout reduced the probability of detectable malignant cells from 13 to 8 (62%) patients after 5, and further to 4 patients (30%) after 10 washout maneuvers. CONCLUSIONS: Free malignant cells may be present in the esophageal lumen following intraoperative manipulation of cancers of the esophagus or cardia. Transoral washout of the esophagus is novel, feasible and enables reduction or even elimination of these tumor cells. The reliability of this procedure raises with increasing washout volume. Esophageal washout might be especially worthwhile in patients who do not receive neoadjuvant therapy.

Short-Term Prognostic Effect of Comprehensive Complication Index in Patients With Gastric Cardia Adenocarcinoma.

INTRODUCTION: The Clavien-Dindo Classification (CDC) has been traditionally used for assessing postoperative complications. Recently, the Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI) has been introduced as a new tool. However, its prognostic significance in Gastric Cardia Adenocarcinoma (GCA) is yet to be determined. METHODS: The CCI and CDC of 203 patients who underwent radical surgery for GCA at Jinling Hospital from 2016 to 2023 were evaluated. Primary outcome variables included Hospital Length of Stay, duration of intensive care unit stay postoperatively, time to return to normal activities, and total hospitalization cost. The area under the curve was used to measure the correlation strength of the CCI and CDC for these outcomes. RESULTS: The CCI demonstrated superior association strength, indicated by higher area under the curve values for all primary outcome variables compared to the CDC: Hospital Length of Stay (0.956 versus 0.910), intensive care unit stay duration (0.969 versus 0.954), time to return to normal activities (0.983 versus 0.962), and total hospitalization cost (0.925 versus 0.911). CONCLUSIONS: The CCI showed a stronger positive association than the CDC with short-term postoperative complications in GCA. It has potential implications for improving postoperative patient management.

Genome-wide DNA methylation and transcriptomic patterns of precancerous gastric cardia lesions.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal metaplasia (IM) and intraepithelial neoplasia (IEN) are considered precursors of gastric cardia cancer (GCC). Here, we investigated the histopathologic and molecular profiles of precancerous gastric cardia lesions (PGCLs) and biomarkers for risk stratification of gastric cardia IM. METHODS: We conducted a hospital-based evaluation (n = 4578) for PGCL profiles in high-incidence and non-high-incidence regions for GCC in China. We next performed 850K methylation arrays (n = 42) and RNA-seq (n = 44) in tissues with PGCLs. We then examined the protein expression of candidate biomarker using immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Of the 4578 participants, 791 were diagnosed with PGCLs (600 IM, 62 IM with IEN, and 129 IEN). We found that individuals from high-incidence regions (26.7%) were more likely to develop PGCLs than those from non-high-incidence areas (13.5%). DNA methylation and gene expression alterations, indicated by differentially methylated probes (DMPs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs), exhibited a progressive increase from type I IM (DMP = 210, DEG = 24), type II IM (DMP = 3402, DEG = 129), to type III IM (DMP = 3735, DEG = 328), peaking in IEN (DMP = 47 373, DEG = 2278). Three DEGs with aberrant promoter methylation were identified, shared exclusively by type III IM and IEN. Of these DEGs, we found that OLFM4 expression appears in IMs and increases remarkably in IENs (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: We highlight that type III IM and IEN share similar epigenetic and transcriptional features in gastric cardia and propose biomarkers with potential utility in risk prediction.

A case report of cardia carcinoma: Underwent Heller myotomy for Achalasia.

BACKGROUND: One of the risk factors for esophageal adenocarcinoma is achalasia, an esophageal motility disorder that is typically treated surgically through laparotomy or laparoscopic surgery. The risk factors of gastric cardia cancer are also similar to esophageal adenocarcinoma due to the anatomical location of the gastric cardia close to the esophagus. There is currently no clinical evidence that achalching has a correlation with gastric cardia cancer. CASE SUMMARY: We report the case of an 85-year-old female patient was admitted to our department with dysphagia for 6 months. She underwent a dissecting Heller myotomy for pancreatic achalasia in 2006, with occasional postoperative symptoms of reflux and heartburn. Outpatient upper gastrointestinal imaging was suggestive of cardia cancer, and gastroscopic pathological findings were suggestive of moderately-lowly-differentiated adenocarcinoma. The patient was admitted to the operating room on August 30, 2022 to undergo radical pancreatic cancer surgery plus abdominal adhesion release, and postoperative review of the upper gastrointestinal imaging showed a patent anastomosis with no spillage, filling of the residual stomach, and duodenal visualization. CONCLUSION: Postoperative patients with achalasia often have symptoms of reflux, which may be one of the factors for the development of pancreatic cancer in this patient, thus requiring clinicians to pay more attention to the use of antireflux procedures in the surgical treatment of pancreatic achalasia. And the choice of which modality to perform surgery in patients with previous surgical history is also one of the points to be discussed.

Infectious pathogens and risk of esophageal, gastric and duodenal cancers and ulcers in China: A case-cohort study.

Infection by certain pathogens is associated with cancer development. We conducted a case-cohort study of ~2500 incident cases of esophageal, gastric and duodenal cancer, and gastric and duodenal ulcer and a randomly selected subcohort of ~2000 individuals within the China Kadoorie Biobank study of >0.5 million adults. We used a bead-based multiplex serology assay to measure antibodies against 19 pathogens (total 43 antigens) in baseline plasma samples. Associations between pathogens and antigen-specific antibodies with risks of site-specific cancers and ulcers were assessed using Cox regression fitted using the Prentice pseudo-partial likelihood. Seroprevalence varied for different pathogens, from 0.7% for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) to 99.8% for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in the subcohort. Compared to participants seronegative for the corresponding pathogen, Helicobacter pylori seropositivity was associated with a higher risk of non-cardia (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 2.73 [95% CI: 2.09-3.58]) and cardia (1.67 [1.18-2.38]) gastric cancer and duodenal ulcer (2.71 [1.79-4.08]). HCV was associated with a higher risk of duodenal cancer (6.23 [1.52-25.62]) and Hepatitis B virus was associated with higher risk of duodenal ulcer (1.46 [1.04-2.05]). There were some associations of antibodies again some herpesviruses and human papillomaviruses with risks of gastrointestinal cancers and ulcers but these should be interpreted with caution. This first study of multiple pathogens with risk of gastrointestinal cancers and ulcers demonstrated that several pathogens are associated with risks of gastrointestinal cancers and ulcers. This will inform future investigations into the role of infection in the etiology of these diseases.

Fibrin sealant for closure of mucosal penetration at the oesophagus or cardia during submucosal tunnelling endoscopic resection for gastrointestinal submucosal tumours.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIM: To assess the efficacy and safety of a fibrin sealant for the prevention of leak resulting from mucosal penetration at the esophagus or cardia during a STER procedure to remove gastrointestinal submucosal tumors (SMTs). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between April 2014 and October 2022, a total of 290 patients with oesophageal or cardiac SMTs underwent STER at our centre. We retrospectively identified patients with oesophageal or cardia SMTs who underwent STER and experienced mucosal penetration of the cardia or oesophagus during the procedure. A total of 31 mucosal penetrations in 30 procedures were included. Of the 31 mucosal penetrations, 12 occurred in the cardia, and the other 19 occurred in the oesophagus. All 31 sites received the fibrin sealant to close the mucosal penetration. Clinical characteristics, procedure-related parameters, detailed data of the mucosal penetrations, and treatment outcomes using the fibrin sealant were reviewed for all 30 patients to assess the efficacy and safety of the fibrin sealant for closure of mucosal penetration at the cardia or oesophagus. RESULTS: For the 31 mucosal penetrations, the mean size was 0.08 ± 0.06 cm2 (range 0.01-0.25 cm2). Mucosal closure using the fibrin sealant was performed successfully in all 31 mucosal penetrations. Of the 31 mucosal penetrations, clips were used in 13 cases. All 30 patients were discharged after a median of 7 days (range 4-20 day) postoperatively. During a mean 62 months (range 6-107 months) follow-up, all 31 mucosal penetrations successfully healed without the occurrence of infection, ulcer, oesophagitis, chest infection or abdominal infection. CONCLUSION: For the closure of mucosal penetration during STER at the cardia or oesophagus, a fibrin sealant is both safe and efficacious. It is necessary to conduct more research on the viability, effectiveness, and safety of using a fibrin sealant to close wider mucosal penetrations.

Conventional versus oblique fiber-sparing endoscopic myotomy for achalasia cardia: a randomized controlled trial (with videos).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: GERD is common after peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM). Selective sparing of oblique fibers may reduce the incidence of reflux esophagitis after POEM. In this study, we compared the incidence of GERD between conventional myotomy (CM) versus oblique fiber-sparing (OFS) myotomy in patients with achalasia. METHODS: Eligible patients with type I and II achalasia who underwent POEM from January 2020 to October 2020 were randomized into 2 groups (CM and OFS myotomy). Exclusion criteria were type III achalasia, sigmoid esophagus, and history of Heller's myotomy. The primary study outcome was incidence of reflux esophagitis (at least grade B) in the 2 groups. Secondary outcomes were reflux symptoms, esophageal acid exposure, clinical success, and adverse events. RESULTS: One hundred fifteen patients were randomized into CM (n = 58) and OFS myotomy (n = 57) groups. POEM was technically successful in all patients. Overall, reflux esophagitis was found in 56 patients (48.7%). The incidence of at least grade B esophagitis was similar in both groups (CM vs OFS myotomy: 25.9% vs 31.6%, P = .541). The mean number of reflux episodes (48.2 ± 36.6 vs 48.9 ± 40.3, P = .933), increased esophageal acid exposure >6% (45.5% vs 31.7%, P = .266), and high DeMeester scores (38.6% vs 41.5%, P = .827) were similar in both groups. There was no difference in the rate of symptomatic reflux (GERD questionnaire score >7) or use of proton pump inhibitors at 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: Sparing of sling fibers has no significant impact on the incidence of significant reflux esophagitis after POEM. Novel strategies need to be explored to prevent reflux after POEM. (Clinical trial registration number: NCT04229342.).

Resección laparoendoscópica de tumor de la unión gastroesofágica / Laparoendoscopic resection of a tumor of the gastroesophageal junction

RESUMEN La resección gástrica atípica ha demostrado ser beneficiosa para tumores submucosos. La técnica pre senta mayor riesgo cuando estos se desarrollan próximos a la unión esófago-gástrica (UEG). Para esta limitación se propuso la resección intragástrica mediante una técnica mixta combinando laparoscopia y endoscopia. En nuestro medio no existen publicaciones al respecto. Se trata de una mujer de 42 años, con lesión subepitelial-subcardial de 2 cm, evaluada mediante videoendoscopia alta (VEDA), compa tible con tumor del estroma gastrointestinal (GIST) evaluado mediante ecoendoscopia. La lesión fue resecada mediante abordaje combinado laparoendoscópico. Bajo visión laparoscópica se introdujeron en cavidad abdominal trocares con balón, y bajo visión endoscópica intragástrica se introdujeron estos en el estómago y se fijó la pared gástrica a la pared abdominal insuflando dichos balones. Posterior mente se realizó la resección de la lesión con sutura mecánica. El abordaje combinado es seguro y eficaz, simple en manos entrenadas, pero constituye una opción reproducible en casos seleccionados.

ABSTRACT Atypical gastric resection has proved to be beneficial to treat submucosal tumors. The technique is more difficult when these tumors develop next to the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ). Intragastric resection combining endoscopic and laparoscopic approach was proposed to solve this limitation. There are no publications about this technique in our environment. A 42-year-old female patients with a 2-mm subepithelial tumor below the cardia evaluated by upper gastrointestinal (UGI) videoendoscopy and endoscopic ultrasound suggestive of a gastrointestinal stroma tumor (GIST) underwent resection using the combined laparo-endoscopic approach. Under laparoscopic guidance, balloon-tipped trocars were introduced in the abdominal cavity and then into the stomach using endoscopic view. The balloons were inflated to fix the gastirc wall to the abdominal wall. The lesion was resected using mechanical stapler. The combined approach is safe and efficient, and simple to perform for trained professionals, constituting a reproducible option in selected cases.