1988 Volume 30 Issue 6 Pages 1299-1303_1
Endoscopic polypectomy using high frequency electric current is popular today as a therapeutic measures of colorectal polyps and early cancers, but is technically difficult for flat and/or broad-based polyps. Surgical treatment is usually recommended for these lesions. Five cases of rectal polyp including two early cancers were treated safely by the heat probe method, a non-invasive endoscopic procedure developed for the treatment of upper GI bleeding. Between 210 and 300 joules was applied to the lesions, then polypoid lesions were completely disappeared forming cautarization ulcers. Ulcers healed within 3-6 weeks later. The heat probe method, the newest endoscopic hemostatic method, is not only effective and safe but technically easy. This method was considered effective for the treatment of flat elevated and broad-based colorectal lesions, which have been difficult to remove by the conventional endoscopic polypectomy. With the development of this method, more polyps and early cancers of the colon and rectum are expected to become the indication of endoscopic treatment.
