Clinical outcomes of no residual disease in the specimen after endoscopic resection for gastric neoplasms

No residual disease (NRD) can be found in the specimen after endoscopic resection (ER) of biopsy-proven gastric neoplasm. This study aimed to evaluate the endoscopic and pathologic characteristics of patients with NRD and identify the cause and long-term prognosis. Medical records of patients who underwent ER for biopsy-proven gastric neoplasms at a single tertiary hospital between January 2005 and November 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients whose post-ER histology was revealed as NRD were included. Overall incidence, clinicopathologic characteristics, cause, and long-term prognosis were analyzed. NRD was detected in 143 (3.2 %) of 4401 cases of gastric neoplasms treated with ER. Mean endoscopic size of the initial lesion was 8.15 +/- A 6.64 mm; in 93 cases (65.0 %), the lesion was located in the lower third of the stomach. Initial pathologic diagnosis was as follows: adenoma (n = 110), carcinoma (n = 29), and atypical gland (n = 4). The causes of NRD were minute lesions removed by biopsy in 140 patients, pathologic misdiagnoses in two, and localization error in one. Local recurrence was detected in five patients (3.6 %) with minute lesions during follow-up and treated with argon plasma coagulation (n = 4) or re-ER (n = 1). Synchronous (n = 5, 3.6 %) and metachronous gastric lesions (n = 6, 4.3 %) were also detected during follow-up. The main cause of NRD was minute lesions which might be completely removed by initial diagnostic biopsy. These cases showed a minimal rate of local recurrence and synchronous or metachronous gastric neoplasms. Careful follow-up is also mandatory for detection of residual disease.