Epstein-Barr Virus-associated Early Gastric Cancer Treated with Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection: A possible candidate for extended criteria of endoscopic submucosal dissection

Abstract

A 73-year-old man visited our hospital for the treatment of an early gastric cancer (GC) lesion. We performed en bloc resection using endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for his GC lesion. The present GC lesion was Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated poorly differentiated-type adenocarcinoma invading into the submucosal layer. Recently, accumulating data has shown that the risk of lymph node metastasis from early EBV GC without local lymphovascular infiltration is low. The present patient has been in good health for over three years since ESD. Some cases of early EBV GC with invasion into the submucosal layer may be candidates for further extension of the ESD criteria.