There has been a dramatic increase in recent years in the incidence of Barrett's oesophagus and the oesophageal adenocarcinoma associated with it. Adequate monitoring strategies and improved diagnostic procedures are therefore essential. Alongside conventional video-endoscopy with four-quadrant biopsies, many additional diagnostic procedures are now available to improve monitoring. These allow the early diagnosis of dysplastic areas and early carcinomas. Both thermal procedures (argon plasma coagulation, multipolar electrocoagulation and KTP laser and Nd∶YAG laser treatment) and non-thermal ablation procedures (photodynamic therapy) are used for the endoscopic ablation of Barrett's mucosa without dysplasia, being employed in addition to acid suppression treatment. On the basis of the data currently available, it is, however, not yet possible to offer a general recommendation in favour of endoscopic ablation. Alongside surgical treatment for high-grade dysplasia and early carcinoma, endoscopic treatment procedures, which have a much lower complication and mortality rate, will probably play an important role in the future. Endoscopic mucosal resection and photodynamic therapy are particularly promising. Long-term results with these procedures are, however, still awaited.
Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.