Review article: Barrett's oesophagus and carcinoma in Japan

In Asia, oesophageal diseases, such as Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal carcinoma, have traditionally been less common than in America and Europe. In recent years, however, the number of reported cases of these conditions in Japan has increased. Two large prospective studies, the Sendai Barrett's Esophagus Study (S-BEST) and the Far East Study (FEST), on the geographic prevalence of Barrett's oesophagus, have recently investigated the epidemiology of Barrett's oesophagus in Japan. Results from both studies showed that overall prevalence of the condition is lower than in the West: 0.9-1.2% in Japan compared with 1-4% in Europe and 5-12% in USA. Similar to the situation in the West, the condition was shown to be most prevalent in elderly male patients and least prevalent in patients with Helicobacter pylori. Adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus is still rare in this region, although there has been an increase in the annual death rate from 3.7 (1960) to 6.9 (1995) per 100,000 population. Risk factors for oesophageal carcinoma include a strong association with the prevalence of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD). With the increasing prevalence of GERD in the Japanese population, continued surveillance of changes in the epidemiology of columnar-lined oesophagus (a precursor of Barrett's oesophagus), Barrett's oesophagus and adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus is strongly recommended.