[Radio frequency ablation of Barrett's esophagus--can the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma be reduced?].

Barrett's esophagus occurs in a little less than 2% of the population. Of the patients, very few develop esophageal adenocarcinoma, and on the other hand only a small part of esophageal adenocarcinoma patients are diagnosed with Barrett's lesion. If Barrett's lesion has a separate visible elevated or depressed lesion it should first be treated with endoscopic mucosal resection, and thereafter the remaining Barrett's lesion should be destructed by a new technique called radiofrequency ablation, RFA. After destruction of the aberrant mucosal lesion with RFA it will be replaced with normal esophageal mucosa and the risk for malignant trasformation is dimished near to zero. RFA is considered the first-line treatment treatment option of dysplastic Barrett's esophagus.