Barrett's%20esophagus Diagnosis

Diagnosis

Screening

Recommendations Regarding Endoscopy in Chronic Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) Patients

The main reason to evaluate patients with chronic GERD symptoms is to identify Barrett’s esophagus
- Patients with chronic GERD are the most at risk to develop Barrett’s esophagus and should undergo upper endoscopy
- Endoscopy to screen for Barrett’s esophagus is recommended in patients with >5 years of GERD symptoms
- Routine screening of GERD patients may not be appropriate in the Asian population because of the low prevalence of Barrett’s metaplasia in Asia
Patients with alarm symptoms or high risk should be immediately referred for endoscopy to screen for malignancy or Barrett’s esophagus
- Alarm symptoms: Dysphagia, odynophagia, bleeding, weight loss
Those who have had GERD symptoms of >3x/week for >20 years have 40-fold increased risk of developing adenocarcinoma
Many patients who develop Barrett’s esophagus are asymptomatic
- 40% of patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma have no history of GERD
Decision to screen should be individualized

Physical Examination

Clinicians must examine the patient and look for any sign of extraesophageal disease, complications of advanced disease or any underlying disease that may manifest as GERD

Evaluation

Endoscopy

Each upper endoscopy should record the squamocolumnar junction, the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ), presence of a hiatal hernia and the location of the diaphragmatic hiatus in patients suspected of Barrett’s esophagus
- The Asia-Pacific consensus defines the GEJ as the proximal limits of gastric folds
Use Prague criteria in documenting extent of suspected Barrett’s esophagus on endoscopy
Consider endoscopic screening in patients with or without history of reflux symptoms and with a family history of >2 first-degree relatives with Barrett’s esophagus or esophageal adenocarcinoma
If initial endoscopy is negative, it is not recommended to repeat it; however, in patients with suspected Barrett’s esophagus and negative histology, endoscopy may be repeated in 1-2 years

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The WHO defines long COVID as a condition that occurs 3 months from COVID-19 onset, whose symptoms last ≥2 months and cannot be attributed to an alternative diagnosis. In an interview with MIMS Doctor, Professor Ghassan Dbaibo of the Center for Infectious Diseases, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, describes the evolving attitudes towards long COVID among healthcare professionals (HCPs), some unexpected predisposing factors, potential biological mechanisms behind prolonged symptom duration and shares data on vaccination’s protective effects against long COVID.

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