Total endoscopic resection of Barrett esophagus

Barrett's esophagus with high grade intraepithelial neoplasia is associated with disease progression at rates of greater than 10% per year. Endoscopic resection is a lower risk alternative to surgery for the management of high grade intraepithelial neoplasia and intramucosal cancer. Two endoscopic approaches have been used, namely localized resection of the lesion and total endoscopic resection of all Barrett's mucosa. The latter strategy removes all at-risk mucosa. Currently it is performed mainly using piecemeal endoscopic mucosal resection techniques. In recent years endoscopic submucosal dissection has been attempted to obtain en bloc resection. This review will describe the techniques of total endoscopic resection, and summarize the key published data.