Cold versus hot snare resection with or without submucosal injection of 6- to 15-mm colorectal polyps: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Cold snare resection of colorectal lesions has been found to be safe and effective for an expanding set of colorectal lesions. In this study, we sought to understand the efficacy of simple cold snare resection and cold EMR versus hot snare resection and hot EMR for colorectal lesions 6 to 15mm in size. At 3 U.S. centers, 235 patients with 286 colorectal lesions 6 to 15mm in size were randomized to cold snaring, cold EMR, hot snaring, or hot EMR for nonpedunculated colorectal lesions 6 to 15mm in size. The primary outcome was complete resection determined by 4 biopsy samples from the defect margin and 1 biopsy sample from the center of the resection defect. The overall incomplete resection rate was 2.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], .8%-7.5%). All 7 incompletely removed polyps were 10 to 15mm in size and removed by hot EMR (n= 4, 6.2%), hot snare (n= 2, 2.2%), or cold EMR (n= 1, 1.8%). Cold snaring had no incomplete resections, required less procedural time than the other methods, and was not associated with serious adverse events. Cold snaring is a dominant resection technique for nonpedunculated colorectal lesions 6 to 15mm in size. (Clinical trial registration number: NCT03462706.).