The Effectiveness of Endoscopic Laser Treatment for the Early Gastric Cancer

Abstract

We studied the effectiveness of Nd: YAG laser endoscopic treatment for early gastric cancer. During the period between 1980 and 1991, 67 cases which were followed up more than a year were evaluated.
The rate of the effectiveness in all subjects was 76%(51/67). In the lesions without lymph nodes metastasis, the rate of the effectiveness was 95%(37/39) (IIa type less than 2cm: 94%(17/18), IIc type less than 2cm without converging folds: 95%(19/20), focal cancer in adenoma: 100%(1/1)). In the other type of lesions, its rate was 50%(14/28). The rates of effectiveness in the lesions more than 2cm in size and the lesions with conveging folds were 30%(3/10) and 50%(8/16), respectively. Therefore, the size and ulcerative findings of lesion were considered for the causes of ineffectiveness.
On the other hand, 3 out of 10 lesions treated more than two times showed effectiveness, but the other 7 lesions ineffectiveness finally. In the effective 3 lesions, the mean number of laser treatment was 2.3 times (2-3), and the period of treatment was 15.5 months (1.5-25). On the other side, in the ineffective 7 lesions, the mean number was 3.9 times (2-8), and the period was 30.3 months (2-83). In these ineffective lesions which showed recurrence repeatedly, we should know the limitation of laser treatment and select the other accurate treatment