Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Original article
Oesophageal adenocarcinoma and prior diagnosis of Barrett's oesophagus: a population-based study
  1. Shivaram K Bhat1,
  2. Damian T McManus2,
  3. Helen G Coleman1,
  4. Brian T Johnston3,
  5. Christopher R Cardwell1,
  6. Úna McMenamin1,
  7. Finian Bannon4,
  8. Blanaid Hicks1,
  9. Grace Kennedy1,
  10. Anna T Gavin4,
  11. Liam J Murray1
  1. 1Centre for Public Health, Institute of Clinical Sciences - Block B, Queens University Belfast, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland
  2. 2Department of Pathology, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, Belfast, Northern Ireland
  3. 3Department of Gastroenterology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, Belfast, Northern Ireland
  4. 4Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, Queens University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Shivaram K Bhat. Centre for Public Health, Institute of Clinical Sciences - Block B, Queens University Belfast, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast BT12 6BJ, Northern Ireland; shiv_bhat{at}doctors.org.uk

Abstract

Objective Endoscopic surveillance of Barrett's oesophagus (BO) provides an opportunity to detect early stage oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). We sought to determine the proportion of OAC patients with a prior diagnosis of BO on a population basis and to evaluate the influence of a prior diagnosis of BO on survival, taking into account lead and length time biases.

Design A retrospective population-based study of all OAC patients in Northern Ireland between 2003 and 2008. A prior BO diagnosis was determined by linkage to the Northern Ireland BO register. Stage distribution at diagnosis and histological grade were compared between patients with and without a prior BO diagnosis. Overall survival, using Cox models, was compared between patients with and without a prior BO diagnosis. The effect of adjusting the survival differences for histological grade and estimates of lead and length time bias was assessed.

Results There were 716 OAC cases, 52 (7.3%) of whom had a prior BO diagnosis. Patients with a prior BO diagnosis had significantly lower tumour stage (44.2% vs 11.1% had stage 1 or 2 disease; p<0.001), a higher rate of surgical resection (50.0% vs 25.5%; p<0.001) and had a higher proportion of low/intermediate grade tumours (46.2% vs 26.5%; p=0.011). A prior BO diagnosis was associated with significantly better survival (HR for death 0.39; 95% CI 0.27 to 0.58), which was minimally influenced by adjustment for age, sex and tumour grade (adjusted HR 0.44; 95% CI 0.30 to 0.64). Correction for lead time bias attenuated but did not abolish the survival benefit (HR 0.65; 95% CI 0.45 to 0.95) and further adjustment for length time bias had little effect.

Conclusions The proportion of OAC patients with a prior diagnosis of BO is low; however, prior identification of BO is associated with an improvement in survival in OAC patients.

  • OESOPHAGEAL CANCER
  • CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY
  • BARRETT'S OESOPHAGUS

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Linked Articles