UNDERWATER ENDOSCOPIC MUCOSAL RESECTION

Underwater endoscopic mucosal ressection corresponds to a variation of the classical technique of mucosectomy, in which excision of lesions in the colon occurs after repletion of the lumen of the colon with water. The basis of the technique is based on the mucosal fluctuation effect.

The main advantage of this technique, in contrast to the classical approach, is that it does not require submucosal injection, which not only decreases the procedure time, but also eliminates the possibility of transferring malignant cells to deeper layers of the intestinal wall.

As the main disadvantages, we may have, in theory, a higher rate of immediate hemorrhage, since there is neither the submucosal cushion resulting from the injection nor the action of the vasoconstricting agents normally used.

We present the video of several cases of mucosectomies carried out underwater. As expected from the fundamentals of the technique, to date, the authors did not have any case of perforation.

We emphasize this technique by the ease of execution and by the lower cost associated to the procedure.