Hi I am 15 months post opp just got told might have barrets has enyone got any experience of this and what happens next

[Stevewellswood]

[Hidden]

Barrett's Oesophagus is the primary precursor lesion for oesophageal adenocarcinoma, and is heavily associated with heartburn and acid reflux. You can find out more about it at actionagainstheartburn.org.uk It creates columns of different coloured cells within (what is left of ) your oesophagus, where the cells start to turn into stomach-type cells that can resist stomach acid.

If you had adenocarcinoma as the cause for your original operation, then you may well have had Barrett's before your surgery. The operation should normally have removed all the cells that were likely to be immediately affected. But with continuing exposure to acid reflux, there is still a risk of further Barrett's Oesophagus developing. The risks involved with Barrett's are heavily dependent upon whether there is any dysplasia (ie changes of cells) or not. If there is no dysplasia the odds are 0.5% per patient year of developing cancer, so if you are 50 years old, there is a 25% chance of cancer developing by the time you are 100. But these figures are not based around somebody with your history.

So the first thing you will probably have is an endoscopy, where they will take biopsies and then analyse them for signs of dysplasia. They may use an endoscope with coloured dye so that they can find the locations that are most at risk. There is a new system called radio frequency ablation that can remove the affected cells but I am not sure how this might be affected by your surgery. It might just depend on how close it is to your surgical scar.

So there is not much to be done until after they have a proper look and find out what is happening. The will also think about reviewing whether you are on the right dose of PPI medication (like omeprazole)

There are many people who have Barrett's Oesophagus who are not given any treatment at all, and are simply monitored in case their condition changes. Many people die at a ripe old age with Barrett's Oesophagus rather than from anything that Barrett's Oesophagus does to them, but with your history I am sure that the medical people will want to keep a precautionary check and try and establish when it first developed.

[Stevewellswood in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Alan had endescope and biopsy taken waiting to Hear the results now your answer is very helpful

Steve w

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I asked somebody knowledgeable about it and she did say that it is possible to do radio frequency ablation round the site of the surgical joint, but not on any metal surgical staples that may have been left there.