Non-Endoscopic Surveillance for Barrett's Esophagus Following Ablative Therapy

Esophageal Adenocarcinoma is a Lethal Cancer with a Rapidly Increasing Incidence. Barrett's Esophagus (BE) is the Strongest Risk Factor for Esophageal Adenocarcinoma. Endoscopic Ablation Induces Reversion of Barrett's Esophagus, and Decreases Progression of Disease. Unfortunately, data demonstrate a risk of recurrence of BE following successful eradication. Recent data published by the candidate and colleagues from the Ablation of Intestinal Metaplasia Containing Dysplasia (AIM Dysplasia) study demonstrate that approximately 25% of subjects who experience successful eradication of dysplastic BE will develop recurrent BE. Therefore, following successful endoscopic ablation, patients receive ongoing endoscopic surveillance. More recently, a simple, non-endoscopic device, termed the Cytosponge, has been developed for endoscopic screening of subjects at risk for BE. Cytosponge demonstrated a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 94% for the detection of BE. We expect these investigations to lead to a less costly, highly accurate, less invasive and more preferred screening paradigm for the large number of subjects who have undergone endoscopic ablative therapy. The Cytosponge is a simple, non-endoscopic device developed for endoscopic screening of subjects at risk for Barrett's esophagus (BE) by investigators at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. The Cytosponge is an ingestible capsule enclosing a compressed spherical mesh sponge of 3 cm diameter, the center of which is attached to a string. The capsule and string are swallowed with water. The string is held at the mouth without tension by means of a cardboard tab attached to the string, and esophageal peristalsis and gravity move the capsule into the stomach. After 5 minutes (during which the capsule dissolves and the sponge is liberated), the sponge is withdrawn by gentle traction on the string and as it does so, collects cells from the lining of the esophagus. The sponge is placed in fixative, then the cells are pelleted, and processed into paraffin blocks. The pellets are immunostained with trefoil factor 3, which is interpreted simply as either positive or negative by the presence of any staining.