Early Rectal Cancer: Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection or Transanal Endoscopic Microsurgery? (MUCEM)

November 17, 2025 updated by: Assistance Publique Hopitaux De Marseille
Local excision for early rectal cancer has proven its feasibility and oncological safety. Indeed, lymph node invasion does not exceed 1% and 10% in pT1sm1 and pT1sm2 rectal carcinomas respectively. Two procedures are currently performed in these early cancers as well as in preneoplastic lesions. Transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM), which has proven its superiority over traditional transanal excision, is a surgical approach associated with a 92% R0 excision rate, a survival comparable to radical anterior resection and a low morbidity. It consists of a full-thickness excision. The second procedure is a recently introduced technique: the endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), which encompasses only the mucosa and submucosa. ESD enables endoscopists to achieve higher en bloc resection rates than standard mucosectomy and is associated with a 88% R0 resection rate, which decreases to 65% in the subgroup of European series. Though very promising, the role of ESD remains controversial in malignant lesions with few published reports. There are therefore 2 different techniques with 2 different dissections (full-thickness vs. submucosal) to achieve the same oncological treatment. So far, only one retrospective single-center study including 63 patients has compared TEM and ESD in early rectal cancer without finding any difference between the 2 procedures, and there are no other available studies comparing TEM and ESD for any type of colorectal tumor. The aim of the present research is to compare ESD with TEM for early rectal cancer and rectal adenomas for short- and long-term outcomes.

Study Overview

Status

Terminated

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

368

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • France
      • Marseille, France, 13354
        • Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Marseille

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

14 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Presenting with an ERT (i.e. rectal adenoma or rectal carcinoma Tis or staged usT1N0 on endorectal ultrasound) that can be alternately resectable by TEM or ESD
  • Histology proved by a preoperative biopsy

Exclusion Criteria:

  • " Palliative " excision T2/3/4 or N+
  • Preoperative radiochemotherapy (down-staging)
  • Metastatic cancer
  • Pregnant or breast-feeding women

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Transanal endoscopic microsurgery group
Procedure: Local excision for early rectal cancer
Active Comparator: endoscopic submucosal dissection group
Procedure: Local excision for early rectal cancer

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Number of complete excision for TEM compare to number of complete excision for ESD in rectal carcinomas staged usT1N0 and rectal adenomas.
Time Frame: 3 years
3 years

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Assistance Publique Hopitaux De Marseille

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Laura BEYER, MD, Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Marseille
  • Study Director: Urielle DESALBRES, Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Marseille

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 11, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

August 24, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 26, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 26, 2016

First Posted (Estimated)

August 31, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

November 18, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 17, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2016-33
  • 2016-A01363-48 (Other Identifier: Ansm)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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