Endoscopic treatment for early gastric cancer

Gastric cancer remains one of the most common causes of cancer death. However the proportion of early gastric cancer (EGC) at diagnosis is increasing. Endoscopic treatment for EGC is actively performed worldwide in cases meeting specific criteria. Endoscopic mucosal resection can treat EGC with comparable results to surgery for selected cases. Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) increases the en bloc and complete resection rates and reduces the local recurrence rate. ESD has been performed with expanded indication and is expected to be more widely used in the treatment of EGC through the technological advances in the near future. This review will describe the techniques, indications and outcomes of endoscopic treatment for EGC.