Digestive Problems
Diseases: Esophagus: Barrett's Esophagus
An endoscopic image showing Barrett's esophagus
(the area of red mucosa projecting like a tongue).
In some patients, washback of acids will cause irritations or ulcerations of the esophagus. As a result, the esophagus tries to repair itself from inflammation or ulceration by repairing the original cell lining. In 12% of patients, this replacement lining will not be the original type found in the esophagus, but more like that of the stomach. The formation of a new lining similar to the stomach is called Barrett's esophagus.
Barrett's esophagus is diagnosed by performing upper endoscopy and obtaining small samples of the lining of the esophagus to look at under the microscope. This cannot be diagnosed by xrays. The importance of diagnosing Barrett's esophagus is that the risk of Esophageal cancer is estimated to be about 30 times higher than that of the general population. The overall risk of cancer from Barrett's is low. Currently there is an argument within the gastrointestinal physicians about how often the Barrett's tissue should be sampled for pre-cancerous changes.