Challenges in Endoscopic Therapy of Dysplastic Barrett's Esophagus.

Abstract

Barrett's esophagus (BE) is the only known measurable factor associated with esophageal adenocarcinoma. The development of endoscopic eradication therapy (EET) has transformed the way BE is managed. Given the fairly recent development of EET, its role in BE is still evolving. This paper discusses the challenges that endoscopists face at the preprocedural, intraprocedural, and postprocedural stages of BE management. These include challenges in risk stratification, dysplasia detection, ablation methods and dosimetry, choice of resection technique, and management of refractory disease. Despite the advances in EET in BE, there remain challenges that this review focuses on. Future research into these challenges will optimize ablation techniques and strategies in the future.