Chicken soup for teaching and learning ESD

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is becoming a popular procedure for the diagnosis and treatment of superficial mucosal lesions, and has the advantage of en bloc resection which yields a higher complete resection and remission rate compared to endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). However, the learning process of this advanced endoscopic procedure requires a lengthy training period and considerable experience to be proficient. A well framed training protocol which is safe, effective, easily reproducible and cost-effective is desirable to teach ESD. In addition, the training course may need to be tailored around settings such as ethnicity, culture, workload, and disease incidence. In Asian countries with a large volume of early gastric lesions which need endoscopic treatment, endoscopists would be able to learn ESD expanding their skills from EMR to ESD under the supervision of experts. Whereas, in Western countries due to the low incidence of superficial gastric tumors, trials have utilized simulator models to improve learning. In Korea, the Korean Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (KSGE) is playing an important role in training many gastroenterologists who have shown an interest in performing ESD by providing an annual live demonstration and a nationwide tutoring program. The purpose of this article is to introduce our ESD tutoring experience, review the published papers related to this topic, and propose several suggestions for future directions in teaching and learning ESD.