OBJECTIVETo explore the effect of nano carbon tattooing on the lesion localization in the early colon cancer for additional surgical procedure after endoscopic resection.

METHODSThirty-five patients with early colon cancer accepted additional surgical procedures after endoscopic resection in Fuzhou General Hospital of PLA from May 2014 to November 2016. All the patients underwent nano carbon tattooing before the end of endoscopic resection: 0.1 ml carbon nanoparticles suspension was respectively injected into the normal intestinal submucosa from 1 cm outside the 4 sites (upper, lower, left and right) of the lesion border by colonoscopy, marking the original lesion location and guiding the subsequent additional surgery. Data of these 35 cases were summarized.

RESULTSAll the 35 cases, including 22 males and 13 females, with a mean age of 46.5 years(range 35-70), completed the endoscopic disposable carbon nano marking, and the mean operative time was 7.5 minutes(range 5-10). No bleeding, no perforation and no adverse reaction occurred. Four to 21(10±3.5) days after endoscopic resection, the patients received the additional surgery as a result of pathological specimens of endoscopic resection in 10 cases of vascular invasion, 7 cases of severe submucosal infiltration, 7 cases of more than grade G2 in tumor budding, 6 cases of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and undifferentiated carcinoma, and 5 cases of positive margin. All the patients underwent laparoscopic surgery. The mean time of intraoperative detection and lesion location was 3.0 minutes(range 1-5). All tattooings were clearly visible under the naked eye. The colon wedge resection were performed in 5 cases, colon segment resection in 14 cases, and radical resection of colon cancer in 16 cases. The operative time was 45 to 180(120±30) min, and the blood loss was 50 ~ 200(50±15) ml. There was no intraoperative complications. The first gas passage time was 12 to 48(24±8) h. The postoperative hospital stay was 10 to 3(6.5±2.5) d. There was no postoperative complication and no perioperative mortality.

CONCLUSIONNano carbon tattooing is helpful for the accurate location of primary lesions in the additional surgical operation after endoscopic resection of early colon cancer, and it can improve the safety and precision of surgical procedures, especially for laparoscopic surgery.