News: Endoluminal Therapies Effective for Treatment of GERD
Endoscopic therapies for gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD) may provide symptomatic relief and reduce the need for acid reflux medication,according to research published in the January issue of the Archives of Surgery.
Endoluminal therapies, including full-thickness plication and endoscopic radiofrequency, provide symptomatic relief and lead to reduced reliance on proton pump inhibitor drugs in patients with GERD especially those heartburn patients who do not benefit from frequently used medications to cure the disease.
Louis O. Jeansonne, M.D., of the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and colleagues compared the efficacy of two endoluminal therapies in 126 patients with GERD. Patients underwent either full-thickness plication of the gastric cardia or endoscopic radiofrequency treatment of the esophagogastric junction. After a mean follow-up of six months, medication use, symptoms and pH values were compared to baseline.
Patients who underwent endoscopic radiofrequency (RF) experienced a significant reduction in incidence of moderate to severe heartburn (from 55 percent to 22 percent), the researchers report. Similarly, those patients who underwent a full-thickness plication (FTP) also showed a decrease in moderate to severe heartburn incidence (from 53 percent to 43 percent), although this decrease was not significant. Improvements in other symptoms were also reported, including regurgitation, voice symptoms and dysphagia, the investigators found.
Both groups exhibited a significant decrease in usage of proton pump inhibitor medication (from 84 percent to 50 percent in the RF group and from 95 to 43 percent in the FTP group).
The differences between the two treatments likely reflect their different mechanisms of action — increased lower esophageal sphincter pressure with radiofrequency treatment versus a more effective mechanical barrier with full-thickness plication — Dr. Jeansonne’s group said.
They cautioned, though, that the findings may have been limited by the relatively small sample size, short duration of follow-up, and subjective treatment selection and symptom scoring.
Also, they noted that the Stretta radiofrequency device used to treat study patients is not commercially available, although “this technique is still used by some centers in the U.S. and internationally, and it is possible that some other form of radiofrequency treatment will become available in the future.”
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=393975bb-0b0e-4bbd-b1bd-d1703c6d8133)
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.