Safety and effectiveness of propofol-based monitored anesthesia care without intubation during endoscopic submucosal dissection for early gastric and esophageal cancers

Background and AimEndoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) becomes more difficult with an increased risk of complications if patient sedation is insufficient. We assessed the safety and effectiveness of propofol-based monitored anesthesia care (MAC) without intubation during ESD for early esophageal cancer (EEC) or early gastric cancer (EGC) in the endoscopy room. MethodsWe investigated 1013 consecutive patients with 1126 lesions who underwent ESD for EGC/EEC with either MAC or regular sedation by endoscopists (control group) between July 2010 and March 2013. Patient characteristics, endoscopic findings, technical results, body movement, oxygen saturation (SpO(2)), and drug dosages were then examined. ResultsMAC was carried out in 137 EGC (16%) and 82 EEC patients (57%), whereas regular sedation was used in 731 EGC (84%) and 63 EEC patients (43%). MAC was conducted in 21% of all ESD procedures. In the MAC and control groups, body movement requiring a third person for control occurred in 30 (22%) and 533 (72%) cases during gastric ESD (P<0.0001) and in 36 (44%) and 53 (84%) cases during esophageal ESD (P<0.0001), respectively. The median minimum SpO(2) was significantly lower in the MAC group than in the control group during both gastric and esophageal ESD (96% vs 98%, P<0.0001; 96% vs 98%, P<0.0004, respectively). MAC did not cause any adverse effects requiring prolongation of hospitalization. ConclusionsPropofol-based MAC without intubation provided a safer treatment environment by significantly reduced body movement and was very effective for difficult cases requiring longer procedure times or more powerful sedation.