Oesophageal disease: gastroesophageal reflux disease, Barrett's oesophagus, achalasia and eosinophilic oesophagitis

Abstract

The most interesting conclusions and/or advances presented at Digestive Disease Week 2016 were the following: a) gastroesophageal reflux disease: proton pump inhibitor-refractory reflux disease is frequently associated with poor treatment adherence, psychiatric comorbidities and functional gastrointestinal disorders. These possible entities should be investigated in all cases of proton pump inhibitor-refractory reflux disease; b) Barrett's oesophagus: the efficacy of screening remains unclear; however, new minimally-invasive techniques such as the cytosponge allow more effective detection, both of Barrett's oesophagus and Barrett's oesophagus-associated dysplasia or neoplasia; c) achalasia: evidence indicates that peroral endoscopic myotomy is as effective as surgery and is a safer alternative; d) eosinophilic oesophagitis: high-dose proton pump inhibitors are required to rule out proton pump inhibitor-responsive eosinophilic oesophagitis; montelukast is not clearly effective in the treatment of eosinophilic oesophagitis, although moderate efficacy cannot be ruled out.

Keywords: Acalasia; Achalasia; Barrett's oesophagus; Enfermedad por reflujo gastroesofágico; Eosinophilic esophagitis; Esofagitis eosinofílica; Esófago de Barrett; Gastroesophageal reflux disease.