Gasless video endoscopic transanal excision of rectal tumors incompletely removed by colonoscopic snare polypectomy.

Background: This report describes an experience with gasless video transanal endoscopic microsurgery (VTEM) to excise rectal tumors previously incompletely removed with colonoscopic snare polypectomy.

Methods: Gasless VTEM involves a modification of transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) that incorporates a standard laparoscopic video camera and requires no CO(2) insufflation system. Nineteen patients who had had a rectal tumor removed incompletely by colonoscopic polypectomy with a diathermy snare were enrolled in this prospective study. The patients included 14 men and 5 women whose median age was 63.5 (range, 49-83) years. The rectal tumors included 4 adenomas, 11 adenocarcinomas (Tis, 7; T1, 4), and 4 carcinoid tumors. The median distance from the tumor margin to the dentate line was 5.8 (range, 2.0-13.0) cm.

Results: All rectal lesions were successfully removed by gasless VTEM. No intraoperative complication occurred. The median operating time and blood loss were 40 (range, 15-145) minutes and 5 (range, 0-100) mL, respectively. The median maximal tumor diameter in 9 patients with residual tumors was 1.3 (range, 0.5-2.5) cm. There was no operative mortality. A postoperative complication (bleeding from a suture wound and transient incontinence) developed in 1 (5.3%) of the 19 patients. The median postoperative hospital stay was 5 (range, 2-10) days. Postoperative histology revealed a residual tumor in 10 (52.9%) of the 19 specimens. Complete excision of all tumors was confirmed histologically. During a median follow-up period of 59.5 (range, 12.3-94.9) months, no tumor recurred.

Conclusions: Gasless VTEM is useful and minimally invasive for the local removal of rectal tumors incompletely resected by colonoscopic snare polypectomy.