Abstract:Objective To evaluate the efficacy, safety and postoperative complications of the endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) treating early circumferential esophageal cancer.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 38 patients who underwent ESD treating early circumferential esophageal cancer from 2018 to 2020. According to the postoperative treatment of esophageal stricture, the patients were divided into three groups: direct stent implantation group (n = 6), non-stent implantation group (n = 26), and midway stent implantation group after regular expansion of esophageal stricture after ESD (n = 6).Results The average length of circumferential defect was 4.5 cm. There were 1 patient with intraoperative perforation, 1 patient with delayed postoperative hemorrhage, 5 with postoperative fever, 1 with perforation in postoperative dilation treatment for esophageal stricture, coupled with the improvement of the complications of esophageal mediastinal fistula after conservative treatment. Esophageal stenosis is the most common complication, with an incidence rate of 100.0%. The average length of hospital stay was 8.6 d, with the average length of surgery as 186.8 min. The first postoperative expansion time and mean expansion interval of the direct stent implantation group were significantly longer than those of the non-stent implantation group, and the mean expansion interval of the midway stent implantation group after regular expansion of esophageal stricture after ESD, similarly, was also significantly longer than that of the pre-stent implantation group, with statistically significant differences. Thirty-eight patients were followed up for 507.0 d on average, without recurrence.Conclusion ESD treating early circumferential esophageal cancer is technically safe and effective. Although postoperative esophageal stenosis is inevitable, preventive stent placement or remedial stent placement can alleviate the stenosis process significantly, showing favorable clinical application value.