|
|
|||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Barrett's esophagus, a medical curiosity since its initial description in the early 1950s, has emerged as an intensively studied condition. Several factors might explain this transformation. First, Barrett's esophagus is one of the most easily studied examples of human carcinogenesis, within reach of an endoscope (and biopsy), and can be studied in some patients over a period during which the sequence of events from injury to dysplasia to cancer occurs. Second, it is common in the Western world, present in about 10 percent of patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease who undergo endoscopy and perhaps 1 percent of the general population,
HOME | SUBSCRIBE | SEARCH | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | COLLECTIONS | PRIVACY | TERMS OF USE | HELP | beta.nejm.org Comments and questions? Please contact us. The New England Journal of Medicine is owned, published, and copyrighted © 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. |