A landmark clinical trial led by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher concludes that radiofrequency ablation is an effective treatment for dysplasia in people with Barrett’s esophagus, a condition that can lead to deadly gastrointestinal cancer.
Barrett’s esophagus is a condition in which repeated acid reflux causes the cells that normally line the esophagus to be replaced with a different type of cell, similar to those normally found in the intestines. This process is called intestinal metaplasia.
By itself, Barrett’s is not a life-threatening problem, but a small percentage of people with Barrett’s will develop esophageal adenocarcinoma, an especially deadly form of cancer.
“These results show there is a substantial difference between treatment with radiofrequency ablation and a placebo or ‘sham’ treatment,” said Dr. Nicholas Shaheen, principal investigator of the study, associate professor in the UNC School of Medicine and the UNC Gillings School of Public Health and director of UNC’s Center for Esophageal Diseases and Swallowing. “It’s a strongly positive finding.”
The study is published in the May 28 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA), a noninvasive technique that uses thermal energy, or heat, to destroy cells, is very effective at destroying abnormal cells in the esophagus. The study is the first randomized trial to evaluate radiofrequency ablation for treating dysplasia, a more advanced stage of Barrett’s esophagus in which the abnormal cells acquire precancerous traits.
The study concluded that RFA demonstrated a high rate of eradication of dysplasia and intestinal metaplasia and that these changes reduced the risk of developing cancer.
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