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The rationale for ablative therapy for Barrett's esophagus (BE) is to reduce its malignant potential. Several ablative therapeutic interventions followed by potent acid suppression have each been shown to lead to squamous reepithelialization in areas of BE metaplasia. However, factors that affect the subsequent outcomes of patients receiving these interventions are uncertain. These researchers assessed the efficacy of argon plasma coagulation (APC) for BE and evaluated the stability of neosquamous epithelium 1 year later.
Fifty patients with BE (mean length, 6 cm) without dysplasia were treated with low-energy APC (30 watts) at 4 weekly intervals until macroscopic clearance was achieved. All patients also received proton-pump inhibitor (PPI)…