Recent advances in endoscopic diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer

Recently, several new endoscopic imaging techniques have been developed, including endoscopic ultrasonography, narrow band imaging, autofluorescence imaging, and confocal laser endomicroscopy. Preliminary studies have reported promising results in diagnosing gastric cancer with these new endoscopic imaging techniques. For wider clinical application, however, more evidence is required to show the clinical efficacy of these advanced endoscopic techniques in the diagnosis of gastric cancer. For the treatment of early gastric cancer, endoscopic submucosal dissection methods have recently been developed. Endoscopic submucosal dissection enables en bloc resection of large lesions and lesions with accompanying ulcerations, as the lesion is directly dissected along the submucosal layer using a high-frequency electrosurgical knife. With the development of the endoscopic submucosal dissection technique and the accumulation of long-term outcome data, the applications for endoscopic resection for early gastric cancer are expanding.