Abu Dhabi to benefit from new endoscopic treatment

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of the Mubadala’s healthcare network, has introduced a specialized endoscopic treatment that eliminates the need for surgery in patients with gastrointestinal precancerous lesions and early cancers, expanding oncology care in the region.

Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection (ESD) is an advanced endoscopic resection technique that allows for removal of precancerous and early malignant lesions of the gastrointestinal lumen – esophagus, stomach, colon and rectum – in one piece.

The advantage of this procedure is that it provides endoscopic access to the deeper layers of the tissue for careful dissection using specialized electrosurgical knives resulting in clearance from the cancer cells and much shorter recovery time compared to traditional surgery. Such advanced procedures rely on regular high-quality screenings for detection of precancerous lesions and early cancers to optimize results for patients.

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is currently the only hospital in the Middle East to provide this complex procedure as a treatment option. The hospital has already treated seven patients with ESD, all of whom are now cancer-free.

“ESD was pioneered in Japan 25 years back but has only been adopted more widely in the last five years. It was developed to enable resection of much larger and complex lesions, which cannot be done with conventional endoscopic techniques, and a way to avoid the risks of surgery. However, because of the complexities involved and higher skill levels required, not many hospitals can offer this treatment,” said Dr. Ammar Kheir, a staff physician in the Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, who trained for the procedure in Japan and Australia.