The influence of procedural volume on the outcome of endoscopic submucosal dissection for gastric neoplasm: A nationwide population-based study.

Abstract

Background: Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a well-established treatment modality for gastric neoplasms. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of procedural volume on the outcome of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for gastric cancer or adenoma. Methods: Patients who underwent ESD for gastric cancer or adenoma from November 2011 to December 2017 were identified using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database. Operational definitions to identify target population and post-procedural complications were created by combining the diagnosis and procedure codes, and validated using individual hospital medical record data. The outcomes were the occurrence of post-procedural complications (bleeding, perforation, pneumonia, and 30-day mortality) and additional resection within 180 days after the initial ESD procedure. Hospital volume was categorized into four groups based on the mean annual number of procedures: very high-, high-, low-, very low-volume hospitals (VHVH, HVH, LVH, VLVH). The outcome of ESD was compared in relation to hospital volume. Results: There were 95,411 procedures in 89,780 patients during the study period. There were 5,607 composite events, which included 5,098 bleeding, 601 perforation, and 712 pneumonia cases, respectively. Additional resection within 180days occurred in 7,900 cases. There were significant differences in ESD-related adverse outcomes among the four hospital volume categories. Multiple logistic regression revealed that VHVH, HVH, and LVH were associated with significantly lower relative risk of composite outcome, when compared to VLVH. Similar tendencies were also shown in terms of bleeding, perforation, and pneumonia. This volume-outcome association was not evident in additional resection. Conclusions: Hospital volume was closely associated with adverse clinical outcome in patients with ESD for gastric cancer or adenoma. The outcomes of gastric ESD should be closely and systemically monitored to ensure the safety of patients.