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Endoscopic advances in the treatment of dysplastic Barrett oesophagus — should HALO be canonised or do we need more evidence?

Chatura S Jayasekera, Finlay A Macrae, Paul V Desmond and Andrew C F Taylor
Med J Aust 2011; 194 (5): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2011.tb02948.x
Published online: 7 March 2011

New ablative techniques can eradicate dysplastic Barrett oesophagus more effectively, but require longer-term follow-up to strengthen their evidence base

Barrett oesophagus is a precursor lesion that can progress to oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Barrett oesophagus affects about 1% of the population and is believed to be due to chronic gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.1 Patients with Barrett oesophagus have a 30–40-fold relative risk of developing oesophageal adenocarcinoma, which usually occurs via progression through low-grade dysplasia (LGD) to high-grade dysplasia (HGD).2


  • 1 St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 2 Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 3 Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC.



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