Endoscopic resection safe, effective for oesophageal granular cell tumours

Endoscopic resection (ER) is a safe and effective management approach for oesophageal granular cell tumours (GCT), yielding high rates of procedural success and low long-term mortality and complications, a recent study has found.

The study included 22 patients (mean age at diagnosis 46.4 years, 12 men) who underwent ER for pathologically diagnosed oesophageal GCT between February 2012 and December 2020. Endoscopic mucosal resection was the most common procedure, performed in 77.3 percent of patients. Lesions were most commonly located in the lower oesophagus (59.1 percent).

The technical success rate was 100 percent, with en bloc resection achieved in 20 patients (90.9 percent). There were no instances of intraoperative perforation or delayed bleeding. Patients stayed in the hospital for an average of 4.2 days after the procedure.

Over the mean follow up of 52.0 months, none of the patients required additional surgery. There were also no documented cases of tumour recurrence or metastasis. One patient died due to intracerebral haemorrhage.

“[N]one of the 22 patients in our study had postoperative pathology suggestive of malignancy, and there was no recurrence or metastasis during the long-term follow-up,” the researchers said. “This may suggest that oesophageal GCTs have a lower malignant potential than other organs.”

“Clinically, the appropriate approach of ER could be selected according to the origin and size of the lesion,” they added.