Recently, Department of Gastroenterology led by Professor He Shuixiang and Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery pioneered by Professor Lyu Yi jointly completed the first case of ‘magnetic traction-assisted endoscopic submucosal dissection of early gastric cancer: MAGNETIC+ESD’ in China.

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is considered as a highly-demanding endoscopic minimally invasive surgery for the treatment of early digestive tract cancer, which may yield a significantly higher risk of complications than any other endoscopic procedure. It is of significance to maintain a good visual field during ESD, which can considerably lower the incidence of complications, such as hemorrhage and perforation, and is beneficial to postoperative recovery of the patients. At present, how to utilize different traction-assisted techniques to resolve the issues of lesion exposure still has certain limitations. To overcome these shortcomings, ‘Shaanxi Provincial Center for Regenerative Medicine and Precision Surgery’ and ‘Surgical Dreamworks’ pioneered by Professor Lyu Yi, and the team of diagnosis and treatment of early digestive tract cancer led by Professor He Shuixiang collectively established the MAGNETIC+ESD regime for one case of early cancer with a giant gastric lesion. Intraoperatively, titanium clip-magnetic ring complex was implanted through the gastroscopic biopsy port after circumferential incision of the early cancer lesion. The titanium clip of the complex was clamped on one side of the incised lesion, and another permanent magnet was utilized outside the body to adjust the position of the preset magnetic ring at the lesion by mutual attraction of the magnets and to lift the lesion, which could fully expose the submucosa of the lesion, quickly resect the lesion, significantly shorten the operation time and cause no common hemorrhage. No delayed complications occurred after operation.

In recent years, MAGNETIC+ESD regime has just been studied and applied in clinical practice by Japanese surgeons. The success of this operation in our hospital reflects another potent combination of digestive endoscopy and magnetic surgery, signifying the smooth beginning of the first case of early gastric cancer treated by MAGNETIC+ESD in China.