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The Hidden Dangers of Heartburn

There's a growing uneasiness in the medical community about the hidden dangers of heartburn. The condition is linked with debilitating sleep problems, chronic cough and even asthma. Worse, years of chronic heartburn can turn deadly, leading to an aggressive esophageal cancer...

Even more troubling are the theories about why esophageal cancer due to heartburn is gaining ground at such an alarming rate. Although obesity and poor dietary habits are likely culprits, there's mounting evidence that the way doctors and patients treat heartburn symptoms may also be making things worse.

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Featured

 Going for the Throat: Barrett’s Esophagus

Barrett’s Esophagus is a condition where adult cells in the esophagus transform into abnormal cells, or “metaplasia,” that increase the chance of turning into cancer. In the esophagus, substances like acid and bile can irritate and inflame the cells in the lining. In most patients, more cells grow to replace the damaged ones. In some cases, however, the cells that grow resemble those in the intestinal lining. This is in some ways protective, as these cells are more resistant to injury from reflux. But theses changes may progress to dysplasia—pre-cancer—and ultimately esophageal cancer.

Articles of Interest

Aspirin May Head Off Esophagus Disorder

Taking aspirin may reduce the chances of developing Barrett’s esophagus, the leading risk factor for esophageal cancer, researchers say.

Barrett Esophagus

The risk for patients with Barrett esophagus to develop esophageal adenocarcinoma is low, and most patients undergoing surveillance will not develop malignancy. Identification of risk factors may allow for more rational surveillance programs in which patients are stratified according to their individual risk of progressing to dysplasia and invasive adenocarcinoma.

Barrett Esophagus: Rapid Evidence Review

Barrett esophagus is a premalignant change of the esophagus; however, malignant transformation to esophageal adenocarcinoma is rare in patients without dysplasia. Barrett esophagus is estimated to affect up to 5.6% of the U.S. population. Risk factors for Barrett esophagus include gastroesophageal reflux disease, obesity, age older than 50 years, male sex, tobacco use, and a family history of Barrett esophagus or esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Cancer Risk From Barrett’s Esophagus Lower Than Thought

But the new study found that the risk of esophageal cancer in Barrett’s patients was only about a fifth of what is currently believed. That suggests that the routine tests and endoscopies patients are subjected to may not be necessary in many cases, said Dr. Peter Funch-Jensen, a professor of surgery at Aarhus University in Denmark and an author of the study, which was published this week in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Esophageal Therapy You Can Stomach

The standard treatment for Barrett's has been to watch for precancerous changes called dysplasia, and in some cases remove the patient's esophagus. But a new outpatient procedure that lets doctors zap Barrett's tissue with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is showing promise.

Molecular phenotyping reveals the identity of Barrett's esophagus and its malignant transition

The origin of human metaplastic states and their propensity for cancer is poorly understood. Barrett's esophagus is a common metaplastic condition that increases the risk for esophageal adenocarcinoma, and its cellular origin is enigmatic.

Statins Tied to Lower Risk of Barrett’s Esophagus

Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are associated with a lower risk of Barrett’s esophagus, a precancerous condition that can sometimes lead to esophageal cancer, a new study has found. Barrett’s esophagus is common in people who have long-term gastroesophageal reflux, or GERD.

Taking aspirin with acid reducers can slow advance of esophogeal cancer

The study looked at patients with Barrett’s esophagus, damage to the lower portion of the tube usually caused by stomach acid, which is considered a precancerous condition. People who complain of acid reflux are 10 times more likely to develop Barrett’s esophagus, and patients with Barrett’s are at a 50-fold risk of developing esophageal cancer.

The Top-Cited Articles With a Focus on Barrett's Esophagus: A Bibliometric Analysis

Because the number of published literatures with a focus on Barrett's esophagus (BE) that researchers must be familiar with has quickly increased in recent years, the significance of selective searching and summarization of bibliometrics is also increasing.

Understanding Barrett's Esophagus

It is believed that the main reason that Barrett’s esophagus develops is because of chronic inflammation resulting from Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). Barrett’s esophagus is more common in people who have had GERD for a long period of time or who developed it at a young age. It is interesting that the frequency or the intensity of GERD symptoms, such as heartburn, does not affect the likelihood that someone will develop Barrett’s esophagus. Most patients with Barrett’s esophagus will not develop cancer.

Resources

Five Things You Need to Know About Barrett’s Esophagus

The condition is surprisingly common; approximately one in six Americans have reflux symptoms weekly, and about 10 percent of these Americans have Barrett’s esophagus.

About GERD

Significantly, most people with GERD have no such abnormality. Nevertheless, the presence of Barrett’s esophagus is an important observation since those who have it are at greater than normal risk of developing cancer of the esophagus.

American Gastroenterological Association

Doctors do not know what exactly causes someone to get Barrett’s esophagus. There are a few things, though, that doctors have found could raise the chances of getting it...

NIDDK

Barrett's esophagus is a condition in which tissue that is similar to the lining of your intestine replaces the tissue lining your esophagus. People with Barrett's esophagus may develop a rare cancer called esophageal adenocarcinoma.