[Endoscopic submucosal dissection (esd) for the curative treatment of early gastric cancer: initial experience in Costa Rica].

: OBJECTIVES. To report the first case of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) in Costa Rica and to analyze the future impact of this technique for the treatment of early gastric cancer in this country. PATIENTS AND METHODS. We present the case of a 67-year-old woman who underwent an upper endoscopy for mild epigastralgia, resulting in a 12 mm non-ulcerated sessile lesion (0-IIa) located in the antrum at the greater curvature. After biopsy confirmation of a well-differentiated adenocarcinoma limited to the mucosa, the patient underwent an endoscopic submucosal dissection for the en-bloc resection of the lesion. RESULTS. The ESD was successfully performed without intra- or postoperative complications such as bleeding and perforation. Operation time was 65 minutes. Histopathological analysis of the en-bloc specimen confirmed the diagnosis of intramucosal well differentiated adenocarcinoma with negative margins. CONCLUSION. ESD is novel alternative for the curative treatment of early gastric cancer, due to its cost-effectiveness, less invasiveness, which provides a better quality of life for the patient than that of conventional open surgery with same long-term results.