Endoscopic submucosal dissection of early colorectal cancer and precancerous lesions        YAO Li-qing，ZHANG Yi-qun，ZHOU Ping-hong. Endoscopic Institute of Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
Corresponding author: ZHANG Yi-qun，E-mail：zhang.yiqun@zs-hospital.sh.cn
Abstract    Precancerous lesions of colorectum include adenoma, familialadenomatouspolyposis and inflammatory bowel disease. Early colorectal carcinoma is defined as the lesion limited to the submucosal layer histologically regardless of size and nodal status. Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) has been established as a standard method for the endoscopic ablation of malignant tumors in the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract in Japan. But ESD has not yet been established as a standard therapeutic method for precancerous lesions and early carcinoma of colorectum because colorectal carcinoma has unique pathological characteristics that differ dramatically from the lesion of esophagus and stomach, and scope handling and control is more difficult in the colorectum than in the upper GI tract. More data is need to establish the standard ESD guideline in the colorectal cancer.