Barrett’s oesophagus: screening, surveillance, treatment: are all questions answered?

Abstract

Barrett’s oesophagus today is understood to be a complication of gastrooesophageal reflux disease (GORD), but unlike GORD, it is seldom seen in daily clinical practice. In 1957 the surgeon NR Barrett described an oesophagus lined with a too-short inner mucosal layer. Over the course of many years, specialists collected a vast amount of information on the aetiopathology, endoscopic and histopathological diagnosis, surveillance and treatment of this condition. It now seems clear that the definition of Barrett’s oesophagus has evolved over the past two decades from the colum nar-lined lower oesophagus to intestinal metaplasia in the oesophagus without specification of length and circumferential extent.