Endo-Knife With Water Jet Function Superior for Removing Colorectal Tumors

A team of researchers at Osaka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases in Japan found that using a flushknife, an endoscopic device with a water jet function, was superior to a flexknife, an electrosurgical endo-knife without a water-jet function, in removing large (more than 2 cm) colorectal tumors via endoscopic submucosal dissection in one piece, according to a news release from Digestive Disease Week.

The researchers assigned 49 patients with superficial colorectal neoplasms to undergo ESD using either the flushknife or the flexknife, according to the release. They found that the flushknife enabled them to rinse mucus and blood clots and to inject saline into the submucosa during the procedure, which is an important step in avoiding perforation of the colon during ESD.

"The flushknife is clearly a superior tool to use in performing ESD," Yoji Takeuchi, MD, of the department of gastrointestinal oncology at the Osaka Medical Center for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases, said in the release. "However, ESD continues to be a very difficult procedure that not every endoscopist can perform. Further developments are needed for colorectal ESD to become the standard procedure for large colorectal tumor removal."

Read the DDW release about flushknife in removing colorectal tumors.