The feasibility and safety of endoscopic resection for benign hypopharyngeal tumors.
OBJECTIVE
For hypopharyngeal tumors, surgical therapy under general anesthesia is the mainstay of treatment; however, the endoscopic treatment of benign hypopharyngeal tumors has not been fully evaluated for its feasibility and safety. We determined the technical feasibility and safety of endoscopic treatment for benign hypopharyngeal tumors.


METHODS
A total of 22 patients (15 men, 7 women) with benign hypopharyngeal tumors underwent endoscopic resection. All tumors were treated using one of two endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) techniques: the injection and cut method for the polypoid lesions (6 cases) or EMR using a cap (EMR-C) for the flat or protruding lesions with wide bases (16 cases).


RESULTS
In all 22 patients, the most common findings detected during routine GI endoscopy were lymphoepithelial cysts (11 cases) followed by papillomas (5 cases). All benign hypopharyngeal tumors were successfully removed by endoscopic resection without sedation. There were no major procedure-induced complications. Minor complications occurred in 3 patients and included minimal bleeding (n=1), pain (n=1) and low-grade fever (n=1).


CONCLUSIONS
As a treatment modality for benign hypopharyngeal tumors, endoscopic resection is a simple, less invasive, safe, and likely cost-effective method. Endoscopic resection should be considered an alternative to surgical therapy in appropriately selected patients.
Lee
Beom Jae
BJ
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea Univerisity Guro Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
Park
Jong-Jae
JJ
Joo
Moon Kyung
MK
Kim
Ji Hoon
JH
Woo
Jeong-Soo
JS
Yeon
Jong Eun
JE
Chae
Sung Won
SW
Kim
Jae Seon
JS
Byun
Kwan Soo
KS
Bak
Young-Tae
YT
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004724:Endoscopy; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000601:surgery; D010611:Pharyngectomy / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome