Short-term Effects Of Endoscopic Argon Plasma Coagulation With Proton Pump Inhibitor For The Treatment Of Barrett’s Esophagus

Objective To study the short-term effect of endoscopic argon plasma coagulation combined with proton pump inhibitor for the treatment of Barrett’s esophagus.Methods Forty-six Barrett’s esophagus patients were diagnosed by endoscopic and histopathological examination from March2010to September2011in Western Hospital of First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi medical university. All Barrett’s esophagus patients were treated by APC under endoscopy, and then took PPI orally for eight weeks. The patients were followed-up by endoscopy at third, sixth and ninth month after finishing APC treatment. The therapeutic effect, recurrence and complications of Barrett’s esophagus were evaluated.Results Thirty-six cases required only one time treatment to reverse Barrett’s esophagus, six cases required twice, four cases required three times. The mean number of APC treatment times was1.3(total number:60). Esophagus of forty-two patients had complete squamous regeneration at the end of APC treatment. Effective rate of APC treatment on Barrett’s esophagus was 91.3%(42/46). Three patients were out of the follow-up group。The relapse rate was6.7%(3/45) after three months followed-up by endoscopy, and the relapse rate was10.0%(4/40) after nine months followed-up by endoscopy, total rate is16.3%(7/43). Twelve patients had mild complications that eight patients had retrosternal pain and four cases suffered from temporary dysphagia.Conclusion The therapy of APC combined with PPI is effective and safe in the treatment of Barrett’s esophagus.