COMMENTARY
See article on page 747
A light at the end of the tunnel
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The article by van Laethem et al in this issue
(see page 747) describes a well conducted study using the argon plasma
coagulator (APC) to treat Barrett's oesophagus in 31 patients.
However, complete eradication of Barrett's mucosa was only confirmed
histologically in 19 (61%), the remainder having a few residual
Barrett's glands under the new squamous epithelium. Seventeen of those
with apparent complete endoscopic and histological eradication at early
follow up were biopsied again a year later, eight (47%) of whom had
relapsing islands of Barrett's metaplasia despite continuous treatment
with omeprazole. These results lead to the same conclusion as that emerging from many recent studies on the endoscopic treatment of
Barrett's oesophagus using a variety of techniques.1-5
It is possible to destroy specialised columnar epithelium in the oesophagus with a range of techniques and the treated areas heal with
regeneration of squamous epithelium. However, there is a high risk of
leaving
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Relevant Article
- Eradication of Barrett's mucosa with argon plasma coagulation and acid suppression: immediate and mid term results
- J-L Van Laethem, M Cremer, M O Peny, M Delhaye, and J Devière
Gut 1998 43: 747-751.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Bhat, Y. M., Furth, E. E., Brensinger, C. M., Ginsberg, G. G.
(2009). Endoscopic resection with ligation using a multi-band mucosectomy system in Barrett's esophagus with high-grade dysplasia and intramucosal carcinoma. Therapeutic Advances in Gastroenterology
2: 323-330
[Abstract]
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