Comparison of traction vs. snare as rescue methods for challenging colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection: Propensity score-matched study.

Background and study aims: To address the challenges of difficult colorectal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), conversion to snare resection (rescue-snare ESD: rSnare), a variant of hybrid ESD, is commonly proposed. However, rSnare is associated with a lower en bloc resection rate compared with conventional ESD. Traction-assisted ESD has emerged as a technique to facilitate dissection, but its effectiveness as a rescue method remains unclear. This study was the first to compare the effectiveness of rSnare and rescue-traction-assisted ESD (rTraction). Patients and methods: This retrospective study involved 1464 consecutive lesions from 1372 patients with superficial colorectal neoplasms across eight institutions. Among these, 162 lesions required rescue methods of rSnare or rTraction. After propensity score matching, 88 lesions treated with either rSnare or rTraction were analyzed. Results: The rTraction group exhibited significantly higher en bloc resection and R0 resection rates (93.2% and 77.3%, respectively) compared with the rSnare group (45.5% and 38.6%, respectively). However, average procedure time was significantly longer in the rTraction group (122.3 ± 72.5 min) compared with the rSnare group (92.2 ± 54.2 min). In the rTraction group, univariable and multivariable analyses identified traction initiation time > 75 minutes as the only independent predictor of procedure durations exceeding 120 minutes. Conclusions: Utilizing a traction device as a rescue technique in difficult colorectal ESD resulted in higher en bloc and R0 resection rates compared with conversion to snare resection. Initiating traction within 75 minutes may contribute to reducing overall procedure time for challenging colorectal ESD cases.