Screening patients for Barrett esophagus: Why, who, and how

Abstract

Although esophageal adenocarcinoma is an uncommon cancer, it is often fatal unless found at an early disease stage. Screening to discover early stage disease for its only known precursor, Barrett esophagus, is currently the only solution to improve survival. Multiple strategies have been suggested for screening including identification of a higher risk population using epidemiological factors such as sex, age, symptoms of reflux, and presence of central obesity. In addition, new nonendoscopic methods of screening have been created including sponges, balloons, breath tests, and tests on various bodily fluids. All of these new developments were created in order to improve the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of screening. New technologies may allow for a low-cost, noninvasive screening technology that is highly acceptable to healthy patients at risk for esophageal cancer.