Endoscopy in france ... cheaper

[Garysreflux]

Hi.. im a gerd sufferer, severe oesoph narrowing. On 20mm omprez... /day. Waiting on HH op on nhs. Quite long gaps between appointments and endoscopies during in which time i am concerned the condition of my oesoph will change. Had a cancer scare but nothing found. I want to keep one step ahead of Barrets. However my situation progresses under nhs i am hoping to be able to afford to have an annual endoscopy privately for peace of mind and 2nd opinion. Prices in london for endosc + consultation are likely to run to £1200 (u agree?). A colleague has told me the same procedure privately in france is much cheaper. Any ideas please. Kind regards and best wishes to all. Gary

[gutlesswonder]

A second opinion can be reassuring but do bear in mind that an endoscopy is only as good as the person wielding the scope, the laboratory that prepares any biopsy and, crucially the pathologist who inspects the resultant slides.

That is quite a difficult selection call for a lay person, particularly in a foreign setting.

Subject to your whereabouts in the country, have you considered another oncologist in another regional centre of excellence who has a part-time practice at, say the local Nuffield hospital?

What gradings were you given from the existing examinations? If these were low then time is on your side since the progression from hyperplasia to metaplasia to displasia to Barretts to carcinoma is usually measured over many years.

What age are you and have you had a contrast xray workup?

[1960finas]

Hi my daughter had terrible acid reflux and oesophagitis she was coughing all night she ended up using at least 5 pillows and was taking umpteen ppi and also antihistamines every night she was on waiting list for op now she is off all medication no coughing only one pillow and has been took off waiting list Drs are amazed had endoscopy to make sure what I was giving her wasn't masking the problem, no inflimation no nothing

[Minardi]

Hi. Try Warsaw poland. I developed chronic reflux and was told had to wait for 9 weeks for a gastro doc and a 8 weeks wait for a endoscopy. I love the nhs but i couldnt wait. Some peoples view that poland is some ways backwards is ignorant. I visited very modern private medical clinics and hospitals. I have had many tests including endoscopy, gastroscopy, colonoscopy, barium swallow, ph/metry, ultrasound, Also 3 mri scans. All at a fraction of UK private healtcare prices. I had my first endoscopy in 2 days of arrival in Warsaw. Visited English speaking gastro doctor who gave perscription for endoscopy. Then had endo with anethesia, then return visit to doc. All this was was around 150£

[Hidden]

I am interpreting what you say as indicating that you have been diagnosed with Barrett's Oesophagus (BO). The significance of BO is the cancer risk that it carries IF dysplasia develops. So the risk very much depends on whether they have found low grade dysplasia (which gives a 5% risk of adenocarcinoma in the following 1-8 years) or high grade dysplasia (50% risk as before). Otherwise the cancer risk of a person, say aged 30 with newly-developed BO may be 12-25% by the time they are 80 years of age. So do not take the cancer risk out of proportion; it needs to be monitored, but the general pattern will be an endoscopy at 2 year or sometimes 5 year intervals because many people die with BO that is not dysplastic in old age, rather than from it.

Endoscopies and biopsies to monitor Barrett's need to be done according to the Montreal protocol (samples at four quadrants every 2cms) and this generally takes longer than a standard endoscopy check, so I would encourage you to concentrate on the standard of endoscopic evaluation (which can be patchy in various places in the UK).

If you are due for a hiatus hernia repair this is a complication and it sounds as if it is more serious than normal as often they are not repaired, but it is a good thing to have a procedure like this done to prevent the long term reflux.

If you are suffering from dysplasia with BO I would focus first on whether you can have radio frequency ablation to remove the dysplastic cells. This can be successful in removing the main risk of cancer developing. It would be a surgical decision as to how this may, or may not, affect the hiatus hernia repair.

Personally, and without knowing all the details, I would not worry about going abroad just for the sake of a cheaper, perhaps unnecessary endoscopy, but I would be concerned about getting treated at a hospital where they take the BO monitoring seriously.

[1960finas]

Hi my daughter had terrible acid reflux and oesophagitis she is off all medication no inflimation no nothing Dr's are amazed been asking what I've been doing She has also been took off waiting list for op. oh yeah

[Butterfly740 in reply to 1960finas]

That is truly a blessing. Thank God!!!

[munishaggarwal54]

Hi Gary,

Sorry to see your situation. If you would like to get relief, and not allow the condition to deteriorate while you wait for the treatment under NHS, I would recommend that you make some dietary changes. Increase the amount of fibre in your diet. It should definitely help.