Background and aim: We have focused on sodium alginate (SA) solution as a potential submucosal injection material for endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). A previous SA solution had high viscosity and problems such as difficult handling. After its properties were adjusted, SA solution was examined in vitro and its clinical safety was evaluated.
Methods: With 0.4% sodium hyaluronate (SH) solution as a control, catheter injectability and mucosa-elevating capacity of 0.3-0.8% SA solutions were evaluated. Next, 0.6% SA solution was used for ESD in 10 patients with early gastric cancer in a prospective clinical study.
Results: Compared with 0.4% SH solution, 0.6% SA solution exhibited no significant difference in catheter injectability but significant superiority in mucosa-elevating capacity. In the clinical study, no adverse events were observed in any patient.
Conclusion: The safety of 0.6% SA solution as a submucosal injection material was confirmed and it is suggested that its efficacy should be investigated in a larger number of cases.
Keywords: early gastric cancer; endoscopic submucosal dissection; endoscopic submucosal injection material; feasibility study; sodium alginate.
© 2014 The Authors. Digestive Endoscopy © 2014 Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society.