Underwater endoscopic colorectal polyp resection: Feasibility in everyday clinical practice

BackgroundEndoscopic mucosal resection is well-established for resecting flat or sessile benign colon polyps. The novel underwater endoscopic mucosal resection eschews submucosal injection prior to endoscopic mucosal resection. Reports about underwater endoscopic mucosal resection were limited to small series of single and/or tertiary-care referral centers, with single or supervised operators.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to determine feasibility and efficacy of underwater resection of polyps of any morphology (underwater polypectomy, here includes underwater endoscopic mucosal resection) in routine clinical practice.MethodsThis study involved a comparison of colonoscopy records of two community hospitals (January 2015–December 2016) for underwater polypectomy (n = 195) and gas insufflation polypectomy (n = 186).ResultsComparable demographics, procedural data, overall distribution, morphology and size of resected lesions, number of en bloc and R0 resections (any polyp morphology and size); except...