Chronological Changes in Mucosal Deformity by Endoscopic Suturing after Gastric Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection: A Multicenter Retrospective Analysis

Introduction: Endoscopic suturing of a mucosal defect is expected to prevent postoperative bleeding after endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). Endoscopic suturing causes mucosal deformity, which may interfere with endoscopic surveillance thereafter. We retrospectively investigated long-term chronological changes in mucosal suturing by endoscopic suturing. Methods: Forty-three patients who underwent endoscopic hand suturing (EHS) after gastric ESD at three institutions were enrolled. First, our hypothesis that the suturing sites healed via inflammation, disappearance of mucosal inversion, and flattening was validated. Subsequently, the duration required to reach each healing step was evaluated. Results: A total of 137 follow-up endoscopies were assessed, in which all cases showed the hypothesized chronological course on the suturing sites. The 95th percentiles of the duration when showing the disappearance of the inflammatory change and the inverted change were 63 days and 15.5 months after the procedure, respectively. Discussion/Conclusion: The data show that the mucosal deformity induced by EHS disappeared within 16 months. Endoscopic suturing is thus considered to have a negligible effect on endoscopic surveillance following the procedure.