Feasibility of Short-Period, High-Dose Intravenous Methylprednisolone for Preventing Stricture after Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection for Esophageal Cancer: A Preliminary Study

Table 1

Patient characteristics.

Age, median (range), y	71 (57–83)
Male/female	11/0
Tumor location (Ut/Mt/Lt)	0/9/4
Macroscopic type (IIc/IIb)	11/2
Depth of tumor invasion (EP·LPM/MM·SM1/SM2)	10/2/1
Mucosal defect circumference (1/2–<3/4 : ≥3/4–<7/8 : ≥7/8)	2 : 3 : 6
Longitudinal resected specimen size, median (range), mm	52 (30–111)
ESD procedure time, median (range), min	89 (50–130)

Three lesions were completely resected in one piece in one patient. The lesions in this patient were located in the Mt, and the tumor depths were 2 EP and 1 SM2. Ut: upper thoracic esophagus; Mt: middle thoracic esophagus; Lt: lower thoracic esophagus; EP: epithelium; LPM: lamina propria mucosa; MM: muscularis mucosa; SM 1: slight submucosal invasion (less than 200 μm from MM); SM 2: deep submucosal invasion (greater than 200 μm from MM); ESD: endoscopic submucosal dissection.