January 23, 2016
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VIDEO: Screening for Barrett's esophagus not feasible with current methods
SAN FRANCISCO — Kenneth Wang, MD, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., discusses his talk given as part of a debate on whether or not to screen for Barrett’s esophagus, which he delivered at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
“I took the con position mainly because I don’t believe at this particular time we’re ready to screen for Barrett’s esophagus with existing tools,” Wang said. “It was advocated by [Gary Falk, MD] to do selective screening, but the problem with that is 40% of patients with esophageal cancer have no symptoms, so it’s difficult to find almost half of the patients at risk.”
Disclosure: Wang reports no relevant financial disclosures.