Background: Little is known about the risk factors for post endoscopic submucosal dissection (post-ESD) bleeding with anticoagulant therapy.
Aims: We aimed to investigate the risk factors for post-ESD bleeding for early gastric cancer (EGC) with an emphasis on anticoagulant therapy.
Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 2355 EGCs, including 137 lesions in patients treated under anticoagulants. Clinicopathological findings were evaluated between lesions in patients with and without anticoagulant therapy with propensity score matching analysis. The factors associated with post-ESD bleeding were analyzed with multivariate analysis with a logistic regression method.
Results: After propensity score matching, post-ESD bleeding was significantly more frequent in lesions of patients with than without anticoagulant therapy (11.7% vs 1.5%, respectively; P = 0.001). A univariate analysis revealed that anticoagulant therapy, heparin bridge therapy, undifferentiated type, deep submucosal invasion, and resected specimen size were associated with post-ESD bleeding. A multivariate analysis revealed anticoagulant therapy (OR 23.1, 95% CI 3.61-147.52) and resected specimen size (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00-1.06) to be independent factors associated with post-ESD bleeding.
Conclusions: Anticoagulant therapy and resected specimen size were risk factors associated with post-ESD bleeding for EGC.
Keywords: Anticoagulants; Endoscopic submucosal dissection; Gastric cancer; Propensity score matching.