A comparison of medical versus surgical treatment in Barrett's oesophagus acid control

Abstract Introduction Barrett's oesophagus (BE) is an oesophageal injury caused by gastroesophageal acid reflux. One of the main aims of treatment in BE is to achieve adequate acid reflux control. Objective To assess acid reflux control in patients with BE based on the therapy employed: medical or surgical. Methods A retrospective study was performed in patients with an endoscopic and histological diagnosis of BE. Medical therapy with proton pump inhibitors (PPI) was compared with surgical treatment (Nissen fundoplication). Epidemiological data and the results of pH monitoring (pH time 5 min, DeMeester score) were evaluated in each group. Treatment failure was defined as a pH lower than 4 for more than 5% of the recording time. Results A total of 128 patients with BE were included (75 PPI-treated and 53 surgically-treated patients). Patients included in the two comparison groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic characteristics. DeMeester scores, fraction of time pH p p Conclusions Treatment results were significantly worse with medical treatment than with anti-reflux surgery and should be optimised to improve acid reflux control in BE. Additional evidence is needed to fully elucidate the utility of PPI in this disease.