What is the endoscopic mucosal resection technique?
Dr. Wallace: We use a special high definition endoscope called a narrow band imaging high definition endoscope. The blue light really allows us to see very, very clearly this early cancer in the lower part of the screen. It really highlights. We use a virtual biopsy instrument, a very small microscope. It’s less than 3 millimeters in size, just the size of a spaghetti noodle. We now have that microscope inside the esophagus and we can see the individual cells and we can see where the cancer cells are located. We can also look at the normal area. It really allows us to target our treatment to the areas that harbor the cancer and leave the other healthy tissues alone. How does the treatment work? Dr. Wallace: We use what’s called an endoscopic mucosal resection device. We’ve got a little plastic cap or plastic tube on the end of the endoscope in little black bands that are like small rubber bands. What we do is we use suction on the surface layer, that icing on the esophagus, we suction
