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Updated: Jun 12, 2025

Cooling or Warming the Esophagus to Reduce Esophageal Injury During Left Atrial Ablation in the Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation
Published on: March 15, 2020
Efficacy and safety of anti-reflux mucosal ablation therapy at 12 months
Krithi Krishna Koduri1, Neeraj Singla1, Rajesh Goud Maragoni1
1Department of Medical Gastroenterology, Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, Hyderabad, 500 082, India.
Background And Objectives:
Anti-reflux mucosal ablation (ARMA) is a minimally invasive therapy for patients with proton pump inhibitor (PPI) controlled gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD). This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of ARMA over 12 months.
Methods:
This single-center prospective study included PPI-dependent GERD patients (acid exposure time [AET] > 6% or AET > 4.2% with reflux episodes > 80 on 24-h-pH-impedance monitoring). ARMA was performed in a standardized fashion using hybrid technique (sub-mucosal lift followed by ablation). Patients were evaluated using the GERD health-related quality of life questionnaire (HRQL) at baseline, three months and 12 months, with 24-h-pH-impedance monitoring at baseline and 12 months.
Results:
Total 216 patients (67.1% males, mean age = 38.7 years) underwent ARMA. At baseline, 123 (56.9%) patients had Hill's grade I and 93 (43.1%) had Hill's grade II on endoscopy. Ninety (41.7%) patients had Los Angeles (LA) grade A and 2 (0.93%) had LA grade B. There was a significant improvement in GERD-HRQL score from 43.8 (12.6) at baseline to 20.6 (13.8) at three months and to 8.3 (12.3) at 12 months (p = 0.001). The mean (SD) heartburn and regurgitation scores improved from 22.9 (10.8) and 20.6 (9.4) at baseline to 11.1 (8.7) and 9.5 (8.7) at three months and 3.9 (6.9) and 3.9 (6.9) at 12 months, respectively (p = 0.001). The AET (median [IQR]) decreased from 11.9 (15.9) to 7.6 (10.8) (n = 125, p = 0.009) at 12 months and the median DeMeester score reduced from 42.4 (47.1) to 26.2 (32.3) (p = 0.001). There was also a significant decrease in number of patients with AET 4% to 6% and > 6% and reflux episodes 40-80 and > 80 and DeMeester score > 14.72, as well as an increase in patients with AET < 4% and reflux episodes < 40. There was a significant improvement in Hill's grading and endoscopic esophagitis at one year. No major adverse events were observed.
Conclusion:
In PPI-dependent GERD patients, ARMA resulted in sustained symptom reduction and improved quality of life at 12 months. This procedure is relatively simple, widely accessible and has a good safety profile.
Clinical Trial Registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04243668).
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