The patient was an 81-year-old woman. Colorectal endoscopy was performed due to lasting sense of abdominal fullness and, as a result well differentiated adenocarcinoma of approximately 40 mm in size was found in the ascending colon. She wished to avoid surgical resection due to her high age and so an endoscopic treatment was adopted.
After local injection of physiological salt solution to prevent perforation, piecemeal endoscopic mucosal resection was performed followed by the endoscopic microwave coagulation therapy. The techniques were repeated 3 times in total. She has been observed for 30 months but neither residue nor recurrence has been found on endoscopy.
Endoscopic microwave coaguration therapy is effective as an additional treatment after endoscopic mucousal resection of early colorectal cancer and local radical cure seems possible even when cancer has grown to a size unresectable as a lump.
