[Barrett esophagus and surgery]

The Barrett esophagus is the substitution of the esophagus distal epithelium (scaly) by another one of columnar type (intestinal metaplasia). It is due to the gastroesophageal or duodenogastric reflux and other genetic and gotten factors. In the diagnosis it is essential to discover the existence and grade of dysplasia which constitute the pre-malignant stage of the adenocarcinoma by which vigilance is very important. The treatment is the same as the one of gastroesophageal reflux and there is no agreement about the advantages of the medical and the surgical treatment. The medication (IBP) is effective against the acid reflux but doesn't control the duodenogastric in contrast to the surgery (antireflux techniques) which is also cheaper and in recent studies it seems to control the dysplasia progress.