Removing cancer without a stitch

The University of Cincinnati Cancer Center's Moamen Gabr, MD, was featured in a news report from Memphis, Tennessee television station Action News 5 discussing endoscopic submucosal dissection, a new approach to remove certain gastrointestinal tumors without surgery.

In the procedure, a thin, flexible scope with tiny tools and a camera is inserted through the mouth or rectum. When it reaches the tumor, a special fluid is released to lift the cancerous lesion away from healthy tissue. Then, doctors can safely peel away the tumor from the deeper lining of the digestive tract.

“We’re cutting through all the lateral margins until that whole precancerous area is removed,” explained Gabr, a Cancer Center physician and associate professor in UC's College of Medicine. “The key advantage is that we’re keeping that organ in place, no incisions from the outside, and no one likes to have an incision, even small ones."

Gabr stressed the key to make this method more widespread and useful is early detection of GI cancers.

Read the Action News 5 story.

Featured photo at top of a medical professional holding a colonoscope. Photo/robertprzybysz/iStock.