This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
VIDEO: BE screening only feasible in high-risk patients until better techniques become available
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
SAN FRANCISCO — Gary W. Falk, MD, from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center, discusses his talk as part of a debate about screening for Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma, which he delivered at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
“To summarize, right now, screening for the general population is probably cost prohibitive, but we want to select out an enriched group of patients that have an increased risk of detecting Barrett’s esophagus, and right now that target group seems to be middle-aged white men who are obese, smoke and have chronic reflux symptoms,” Falk said. “That strategy is not perfect and has limitations, but that’s where we are right now. Stay tuned — this field is going to advance dramatically, I would think, in the next 5 to 10 years.”
Disclosure: Falk reports he has received research funding from CDx.