Barret's Disease

[Suzanne Marino]

I have had mild & occassionally severe heartburn. My doctor put me on Prilosec, which completely stopped the reflux and heartburn. Then my doctor had me do an upper G-I, which diagnosed that I do have Barret's Disease, with type A-typical cells, a slight to moderate cell change. Now my doctor is adament that I have surgery, the wrap. I have looked and looked, it seems that everyone elects to have the surgery because the reflux and heartburn are not stopped by the mediation. The surgery does not really do much else. So my question is; is it recommended to do the surgery, if the prilosec has stopped the symptoms? The surgery will not reverse the change in my cells, it will just stop the reflux, but the prilosec has stopped the syptoms....why have the surgery and then possibly other complications?
Thank you!
Suzanne

[Hazel]

The surgery is not just to stop the symptoms, it is to stop the further erosion of the esophagus by stomach acid. Barrett's esophagus is a serious condition which can lead to esophageal cancer. I would definitely do the surgery. It is really not a bad surgery at all, I was back to work in two weeks.

[SamQKitty]

Suzanne -
Barrett's esophagitis (which is what I think your doctor means by "Barrett's disease") is a pre-cancerous condition. It doesn't mean you have cancer, just that you may be more likely to develop esophageal cancer. My own gastroenterologist told me that while prilosec does not cause Barrett's, once you have Barrett's, prilosec can make it turn cancerous faster. He checks me every 2-3 years to make sure I'm not developing Barrett's.

If you can have the surgery, it's probably a good idea. Even on prilosec, which stops acid production, the contents of your stomach (i.e., undigested and partially digested food) can back up into your esophagus. If you already have Barrett's, the surgery might make even more sense in your case.

You might want to do research online regarding Barrett's, and also the surgery which is called fundoplication.

If I run across any more information regarding this, I'll post again. Good luck.

[fnlost]

I had nissen fundoplication surgery 6 month ago-- same as you-- on prilosec... Barretts esophagus...
The hope was that the surgery would totally take care of the reflux-- no more meds..
Well I started having problems again last month-- and the reflux seems to be back-- Just had an Upper GI series & will have an endoscope in a few weeks...
Very frustrating-- thought I had it licked...!!
Do your homework....
good luck

[SamQKitty]

Before having surgery, you need to have a test called "mamometry" (hope I spelled that right). It measures the peristalsis action in your esophagus. If you have no peristalsis action (like myself) then you can't have the surgery. The reason is that normally, the peristalsis action moves the food down your esophagus and through the sphincter muscle into the stomach. Without peristalsis, the only thing moving food into your stomach is gravity. If they tighten the sphincter (which is what the fundoplication surgery does), the food will never get through the sphincter and will end up backing up in your esophagus. You wouldn't be able to eat at all.

On the other hand, if you've still got motility in your esophagus, then sometimes the surgery can completely solve the problem.