PMID- 16481972
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
DCOM- 20060306
LR  - 20060216
IS  - 1121-421X (Print)
IS  - 1121-421X (Linking)
VI  - 49
IP  - 1
DP  - 2003 Mar
TI  - Endoscopic treatment of Barrett's epithelium with Argon Plasma Coagulation. 
      Long-term follow-up.
PG  - 63-70
AB  - BACKGROUND: Barrett's esophagus (BE) is a premalignant condition for the 
      development of esophageal adenocarcinoma. Recently, many endoscopic therapies 
      based on thermal or photobiologic ablation of BE have been provided, with 
      positive short-term results in 60-100% of cases, but long-term results are still 
      lacking. The aim of this study is to evaluate long-term results of BE endoscopic 
      ablation with Argon-Plasma Coagulation (APC). METHODS: Thirty-five consecutive 
      patients were treated (every 3 weeks) with APC until the eradication of BE and 
      the squamous epithelium restoration were assessed. During the treatment and the 
      first 6 months of follow-up, patients received 40 mg/die omeprazole; then the 
      proton pump inhibitors (PPI) dose was 20 mg/die. Endoscopic and histologic 
      controls have been performed every 6 months. The study considered the first 32 
      patients who completed at least 24 months of follow-up, whose median was 49.5 
      months (range: 24-60). RESULTS: The ablation of BE was achieved with a median of 
      2.0 APC sessions, without side- effects. The recurrence of SIM (specialized 
      intestinal metaplasia) was detected in 3 patients, while nor dysplasia or cancer 
      developed. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that APC can lead both to eradication 
      of BE and the restoration of squamous epithelium. As recent reports indicated the 
      persistence of SIM beneath the new epithelium and even a neoplastic growth 
      (adenocarcinoma) in the treated area, despite APC, 2 questions have arisen: is 
      APC unable to radically ablate BE or on the contrary are these findings due to 
      defects of the ablative technique needing improvement? To settle more precise 
      conclusions, further investigation with larger numbers of patients and for longer 
      follow-up is required.
FAU - Familiari, L
AU  - Familiari L
AD  - Department of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy. 
      familiari_endoscopia@libero.it
FAU - Scaffidi, M
AU  - Scaffidi M
FAU - Bonica, M
AU  - Bonica M
FAU - Consolo, P
AU  - Consolo P
FAU - Giacobbe, G
AU  - Giacobbe G
FAU - Fichera, D
AU  - Fichera D
FAU - Familiari, P
AU  - Familiari P
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - Italy
TA  - Minerva Gastroenterol Dietol
JT  - Minerva gastroenterologica e dietologica
JID - 9109791
EDAT- 2006/02/17 09:00
MHDA- 2006/02/17 09:01
CRDT- 2006/02/17 09:00
PHST- 2006/02/17 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2006/02/17 09:01 [medline]
PHST- 2006/02/17 09:00 [entrez]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Minerva Gastroenterol Dietol. 2003 Mar;49(1):63-70.