Abstract:Abstract: Objective To evaluate the efficiency and safety of submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection (STER) for upper gastrointestinal submucosal tumor (SMT) originating from the muscularis propria (MP) layer.Methods Clinicopathological data of 27 cases with upper gastrointestinal SMT originating from the MP layer treated with STER were analyzed retrospectively. Hamilton Anxiety Scale was used to assess the psychological status of patients before and after treatment.Results There were 26 patients and 27 cases. Only 1 patient had 2 cases of esophageal SMT. The age ranged from 31~70 (mean 49.9±9.8) years old. Of the 27 SMTs, 13 were located at the esophagus, 13 at gastric cardia and 1 at the gastric fundus and body junction. The diameters of the tumors were 1.0~6.0 (mean 2.0±1.1) cm. All these lesions were successfully resected by STER with an en bloc resection rate of 92.6%. The procedure time was 11~163 min, mean (51.0±35.7) min, and the time used to close the mucosal incision site was 1~11 min. Pathological examination showed that the lesions were leiomyomas (n=21, 77.8%), stromal tumors (n=6, 22.2%; 1 was at esophagus, 5 were at stomach, 1.0~1.8cm), and they were all extremely low risk stromal tumors (1.0~1.8cm, mitotic figures <5/50HPF). Both lateral and vertical margins were negative in all the cases. 1 patient developed mediastinal emphysema pneumothorax and 3 pneumonia after operation. All of them recovered uneventfully after conservative treatments. No tumor residual or recurrence was found during the follow up (range, 24~60 months). During the follow-up period, the Hamilton Anxiety Scale was made for the patients. Before the treatment, 8 people may have anxiety (30.8%), 5 people had anxiety (19.2%), 1 people had anxiety before the illness, and the anxiety symptoms were aggravated after the lesion found. After endoscopic resection, the patient’s anxiety improved significantly.ConclusionsSTER was a safe, effective therapy for appropriate lesions in the MP layer of the upper gastrointestinal SMT, which completely removed lesions and treated patients’ anxiety.