Endoscopic anti-reflux therapy for gastroesophageal reflux disease

Gastroesophageal reflux disease has an increasing incidence and prevalence worldwide.A significant proportion of patients have a suboptimal response to proton pump inhibitors or are unwilling to take lifelong medication due to concerns about long-term adverse effects.Endoscopic anti-reflux therapies offer a minimally invasive option for patients unwilling to undergo surgical treatment or take lifelong medication.The best candidates are those with a good response to proton pump inhibitors and without a significant sliding hiatal hernia.Transoral incisionless fundoplication and nonablative radiofrequency are the techniques with the largest body of evidence and that have been tested in several randomized clinical trials.Band-assisted ligation techniques,anti-reflux mucosectomy,antireflux mucosal ablation,and new plication devices have yielded promising results in recent noncontrolled studies.Nonetheless,the role of endoscopic procedures remains controversial due to limited long-term and comparative data,and no consensus exists in current clinical guidelines.This review provides an updated summary focused on the patient selection,technical details,clinical success,and safety of current and future endoscopic anti-reflux techniques.

Clinical characteristics of young patients with early Barrett’s neoplasia

BACKGROUND Esophageal adenocarcinoma(EAC)and high-grade dysplasia(HGD)may appear in young patients with Barrett's esophagus(BE).However,characteristics of Barrett's-related neoplasia in this younger population remain unknown.AIM To identify clinical characteristics that differ between young and old patients with early-stage Barrett's-related neoplasia.METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database comprised of consecutive patients with early-stage EAC(pT1)and HGD at a tertiary-referral center between 2001 and 2017.Baseline characteristics,drug and risk factor exposures,clinicopathological staging of EAC/HGD and treatment outcomes[complete eradication of neoplasia(CE-N),complete eradication of intestinal metaplasia(CE-IM),recurrence of neoplasia and recurrence of intestinal metaplasia]were retrieved.Multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors that differed significantly between older and younger(≤50 years)patients.RESULTS We identified 450 patients with T1 EAC and HGD(74%and 26%,respectively);45(10%)were≤50 years.Compared to the older group,young patients were more likely to present with ongoing gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD)symptoms(55%vs 38%,P=0.04)and to be obese(body mass index>30,48%vs 32%,P=0.04).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that young patients were significantly more likely to have ongoing GERD symptoms[odds ratio(OR)2.00,95%confidence interval(CI)1.04-3.85,P=0.04]and to be obese(OR 2.06,95%CI 1.07-3.98,P=0.03)whereas the young group was less likely to have a smoking history(OR 0.39,95%CI 0.20-0.75,P<0.01)compared to the old group.However,there were no significant differences regarding tumor histology,CE-N,CE-IM,recurrence of neoplasia and recurrence of intestinal metaplasia(mean follow-up,44.3 mo).CONCLUSION While guidelines recommend BE screening in patients>50 years of age,younger patients should be considered for screening endoscopy if they suffer from obesity and GERD symptoms.